The Barton Bridge World War II pillbox

Uncovering and discovering the Barton Bridge World War II pillbox

How could laying a short gravel path to the front of a small building in the middle of a wilderness of nettles and brambles be of interest?

What would persuade an established and notable organisation, the Bradford on Avon Preservation Trust, to invest time and money in such a project? Who could get somebody to undertake a project to show that this building, a World War II pillbox, was significant and to enlighten and educate the public about it? It needed an enthusiast with a background of study and research and a willing helper to get the ball rolling.

The encouragement came from one of the Trust’s members, Patrick Scarborough, and his persistence persuaded me to get involved. We are both ‘pre-war’ and so were well qualified to do the job. My previous projects had been completed. One was, coincidentally, laying a path, the mud free, all weather Hens Orchard Path. Amongst the others, of course, was helping with the Iron Duke. I was looking for another to do.

There was another stimulus for the Trust to undertake this project. The Trust had received a generous gift from our wonderful benefactor Elizabeth Cartwright-Hignett and this provided the finance.

History

It took no time at all to get hooked on the idea of a pillbox project. Sources of information about pillboxes, including a society committed to the study and preservation of anti-invasion defences, the Pillbox Study Group, quickly showed what a significant and important part they played in our history.

Why and what are these unusual structures at intervals along the river and canal? Structures you spotted on riverside walks in our lovely Avon Valley, yes, the pillboxes, so called because their shape is like the boxes that medical pills were once dispensed in. One of the pillboxes is well known to us because it is in the Barton Farm Country Park on the island beside the Barton Bridge here in Bradford on Avon.

Scaled down project

As a walker who uses Ordnance Survey Maps you may have been perplexed to find that pillboxes are not shown on the maps and aren’t shown in the list of general map features. Understanding why is the first step in sorting out the history of pillboxes. Their location was not to be disclosed. Why? - because they were built as a military defence line against an enemy invasion threat.

The threat came shortly after the start of World War II when over 300,000 British and Allied soldiers were trapped by Hitler’s German Army on the beaches of Dunkirk, France. Between 26 May and 4 June 1940 the miracle of Dunkirk occurred. Over 800 small private boats, the little ships of Dunkirk, rescued the troops. The role of these little ships was highlighted in the 2017 film about the evacuation, the premier of which was attended by Prince Harry. Following the Dunkirk evacuation an invasion by the German Army was feared to be imminent.

And so the first revelation when you start reading about pillboxes is that the building
of them began in the second half of 1940 to protect against this looming invasion threat. Eighteen thousand were built using reinforced concrete behind a shuttering of bricks. They formed defensive ‘stop lines’ across England and along the many miles of British coastline. The stop lines included gun emplacements, concrete anti-tank blocks on roads andrailways, anti-tank ditches, minefields, infantry section posts and slit trenches.

The War Office produced several basic designs of pillboxes. The Barton Bridge pillbox is a hexagonal Type 24 and one of 170 that made an important defensive line running from Freshford through Avoncliff and Bradford on Avon to Reading. For much of its length it followed the 58 miles of the Kennet and Avon Canal, itself an effective defence line and anti-tank obstacle.

The pillboxes were to be manned by soldiers and by the Home Guard, with rifles and light machine guns. The Home Guard was formed in May 1940. It was made up of volunteers who could not join the regular army because their jobs were necessary to keep the country running. They included farm workers, bakers, teachers, grocers, bank staff and railway workers.

We know of course that the pillboxes were never needed, the invasion never happened and the fear that they would become death traps for the soldiers manning them was never realised.

The WWII pillboxes are recognised as the last military fortifications that will ever be built in Britain. They brought to an end the building of such structures over the centuries that began with the Romans.

The Pillboxes Now

Because of the robust and sturdy way they were made, most pillboxes survive but not all. There’s the story of a farmer who wanted to clear one from his field. He used dynamite to blow it up but finished up with huge, immovable chunks of reinforced concrete all over his field.

Our surviving Barton Bridge pillbox is like most. Its entrance is bricked up, it’s covered in vegetation and used by wildlife including use as a bat roost.

The Pillbox Proposal

The proposal was to show the visitors to Barton Farm Country Park, in an attractive and educational way, what the pillbox represented and to encourage them to pursue the subject and learn about a crucial time in our history. The idea was submitted to the Trust’s Council of Management (CoM) with the suggestion that it be financed by the gift from our benefactor.

The project was to make a fenced path from the bridge around the pillbox, to erect a lectern noticeboard showing a graphic design telling the pillbox story and to replace the bricked-up entrance with a secure door which would be opened to visitors on the annual Heritage Open Days each September. The CoM discussed the project and it was agreed to develop it further. A project team was formed and a budget allocated.

The Pillbox Challenge

An earlier Trust project team had constructed a path on the Trust’s own land, the Hens Orchard. They laid an all weather, mud free path, the Hens Orchard Path, connecting the children’s play areas in Victory Field and Barton Farm Country Park. However this new project was not on the Trust’s own land so could only be undertaken if permission from the landowner was obtained and conditions required by other authorities were satisfied.

The first job for the new team was to check that the Wiltshire Council (WC), who owned the Barton Farm Country Park, also owned the pillbox. This was soon confirmed as was the fact that this patch of overgrown, abandoned, unused, nettle and bramble-infested wilderness in which the pillbox was concealed had special status and the pillbox project could not go ahead as planned.

Further contact with WC, WC Countryside Department, WC Planning Liaison Officer and WC Tree Officer was made, including site visits, with officers of the WC and contractors. It proved necessary to contact and consult other groups, authorities and administrative bodies, including Historic England; the Wiltshire and Swindon Biological Records Centre; the Wiltshire Bat Group; Johns Associates for Ecological Impact Assessment; the Environment Agency; the Pillbox Study Group; the graphic designer at SerenArts and others including contractors who could undertake the work.

The Consultative Outcome

In spite of the plan being respectful, discrete and careful, it seemed it was at odds with just about every environment organisation, agency and authority in the book. The result of so much consultation, investigation, debate, review and more, was that the project was delayed and eventually had to be downscaled. And this time it wasn’t because of the cost of it. Wildlife, bank voles and particularly the delicate, protected mammalian species, bats, played a major role. Disturbing their environment wasn’t acceptable. A pillbox with its cool, humid and dark interior is an ideal place for bats to roost and hibernate.

Another major constraint was the protection of the woodland and other botany on the site of the pillbox. The guidance from the WC Tree Officer was essential and detailed. It prevented us putting a foot wrong. It was contained in his Arboricultural Method Statement and his BS 5837 Tree Report, both documents running to fifteen pages. The Team learnt a significant number of acronyms to do with the subject of arboriculture. These included TMS, Tree Method Statement, RPAs, Root Protection Areas, CCS, Cellular Confinement System and more.

The other botanical issue encountered was the protection of dodder, a rare parasitic plant that thrives on the nettles around the pillbox.

You’ll recall that the laying of the 80m long Hens Orchard Path (HOP) proceeded with no holdups. The approval of the 8m path for the Pillbox Project took a year. CoMs came and went. Fellow Trustees showed considerable understanding and patience with the delays. Finally they agreed that the scaling down of the project was necessary.

After prolonged work on the graphic design for the sites lectern noticeboard, the CoM agreed that too. But it took the professional help (from SerenArts) to clinch the design after considering over a couple of dozen drafts. The graphic does an excellent job of telling the story.

The Project Progress

The Trust’s 2017 AGM has just come and gone. It was an opportunity to mention the project and how it is ready to proceed with all the approvals and permissions in place. There was a chance it would be finished in time for the January 2018 coffee morning PowerPoint presentation. The talk will go ahead finished or not.

At the time of writing a Christmas pause has been reached. It followed a Project Pre-commencement meeting on the Barton Bridge beside the pillbox. The Team,

WC Countryside and Tree Officers, the arboriculturalist and the contractor who will lay the path were there. A date for the work will be set shortly and part two of this project will be undertaken and reported on.

And Finally

Visitors to Barton Bridge will have spotted that an arboriculturalist employed by the WC was busy just before Christmas pollarding the ancient willows on the island. Suddenly the pillbox looks less overgrown and more accessible, a good outcome.

The final event may well be a formal opening of the project plus a ribbon cutting by a former member of the Home Guard in full uniform. The idea of a twenty-one gun salute has been dropped. Why, because it failed to get the approval of the relevant authorities.

Those authorities have been diligent to the very end.

Rod Johnston