Heacham Beach Visit. British Pill Box and Tank Trap Defences

 

Hello There! My partner and I spent a few days away in North Norfolk. We visited the South Beach at Heacham and found two pill boxes guarding the exit from the beach.

After taking a few photos and doing a search on the internet, I found that these were two pill boxes, a type 28 and a type 28a.

The Pill Box Study Group has the type mentioned here.

There are other defences at the beaches of Brancaster, Holme and Weybourne.

The Type 28a is unusual in that it has been modified so that there are separate entrances to the anti-tank gun chamber and infantry chamber.

According to this link, here. one of the bunkers is used as storage and the other is sealed. There are photos on the internet of the inside of these defences but on the day they were inaccessable.

One had a base for a spigot mortar, but these bunkers were intended to have a 2 pdr anti tank gun, which was not always available! The spigot mortar base was  was right next to the bunker but there appeared to be little cover for the base or crew.

The planking marks used as shuttering was still clearly visible.

The type 28 is in the foreground, near the entrance of the car park, while the Type 28a is in the distance.

The Type 28a is unusual in that it has been modified so that there are separate entrances to the anti-tank gun chamber and infantry chamber.

There was a small ditch between the beach and the defences and in each corner of the bridge that spanned it were four anti tank blocks to stop tanks crossing the bridge. One has a slot cut in it but I do not know if that is contemporary with the defences or had been cut at a later date.

I have found one reference saying that this allowed a rail barrier to be put in place.

A pleasant discovery of some of the County's war time heritage.

WW II and WW I Pill Box Visits

 Hello there! I recently had the opportunity to visit Sheringham Park where they had an open day for the WW II defences which were in the surrounding grounds.

I parked in the National Trust car park and walked through the park and towards the beach. Overlooking the open fields facing towards the 'gap' in the cliffs is a type 24 pill box.

The interior is brick and Concrete construction. On the ceiling you can still see the marks of the wooden formwork when it was cast.

This is the view out of the side embrasure and when made there would not have been any vegitation to obscure the view.

The view out of the front looks down towards the sea and the 'gap' where the cliffs slope down towards the ground. The sea can just be seen which is about a mile and a half away. The next pill box is to the right. It is just past the railway bridge which today has the 'Poppy Line' run beneath it. 

This is a better view of the sea from the first pill box. The building to the left is about 300 yards to the left of the gap. This area was a weakness in the defences so a tank trap was placed across the gap.

These are the external views of the same pill box. The soil was placed up to the embrasure to protect it from fire and make it better hidden.

This is the view out of the vision slit of the second pill box. This is positioned under the path which goes down to the sea. If you did not know it was there you may well miss it. There is another pill box under the railway bridge which is not accessable.

This is the entrance to the second position. The view above looks over to the 'gap' from the right of the first pill box. The figures on the top right of the picture are standing on the path which goes over the top of the position.

This is the hidden embrasure which looks towards the sea. Again you can see the path over it on top.

I continued to walk down to the sea and found another pill box. This one was on private land so was not accessable. It overlooks the 'gap' and the sea.

With my back to the pill box above I turned round and here is the remains of the tank trap. Still visible after 80 years. It is very steep on both sides. You can see, where the sea disappears in the centre, this is where the cliffs start to climb again.

Looking from the waters edge you can see a dip in the middle of the dune which is the start of the tank trap. Also the last pill box, which overlooks the trap, is at the small raised portion on the horizon.Well withing rifle and bren gun range.

After talking to the enthusiasts which cleared out the WW II positions they mentioned a WW I pill box which was next to the pub, 'The Roman Marching Camp' in Aylmerton. As this was on the way home I stopped off for some photos. Unlike the otthers above this was a prefab construction and a number of blocks were made which were designed to fit together on site. The view inside was clean but worn.

It is still in good condition and obviously predates the pub next to it as it obscures the fields of fire of the box.

This is the view across the fields but just around the corner of the  pill box is the entrance so it may have been intended to be covering the opposite direction? 

This was an enjoyable day out and provided a good insight into a bit of local history. The country, especially East Anglia is covered in these positions and they were arranged into paralell 'STOP' defensive lines.