Site of a Second World War pillbox located in dunes 400 metres southwest of Shell Bay, Studland Heath. The pillbox was built of reinforced concrete and had been constructed by early August 1940. It was situated within the Studland Sub-Sector, defended by the 7th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment from October 1940, replaced in April 1941 by the 1st Battalion of the Coldstream Guards. The Home Guard unit manning defences within this sector was No.2 (East Purbeck) Company, 7th (Wareham) Battalion. The pillbox was blown up by the army about 15 to 20 years prior to 1995. A field visit in 1995 found the site marked by large concrete blocks within a 6 metre diameter.
Loading documents & images
Map
Find a placename, postcode or grid reference
Map layers
Base layers
Info
Record list
Tools
The map is limited to 3000 records per layer so not all records are being displayed for this area. Zoom in to see more.
Remains of a reinforced pillbox in dunes 400m SW of Shell Bay. The large blocks of concrete lie within a 6m diameter. The site offers a field of fire across the sand dunes to the beach.
The site was blown up by the army about 15 to 20 years ago to prevent its use by undesirable elements who frequent the dunes around the nudist beach. Pillbox, probably for machine gun fire, now completely destroyed. All that remains are piles of reinforced concrete chunks. The pillbox would have had a field of fire towards the sand dunes of Studland Beach. Studland Heath, Corfe Castle Estate, Studland. <1>
Sources/Archives (3)
<1> SWX5
Digital archive: Council for British Archaeology. 1995. Defence of Britain Project. S0007720.
<2> SDO17227
Excavation archive: Council for British Archaeology. 2006. Defence of Britain Project Archive DEB01. S0007720.
<3> SDO14739
Digital archive: National Record of the Historic Environment. 1422101.
Legacy UID: Dorset Sites and Monuments Record: 6 019 120
Legacy UID: National Monuments Record: SZ 08 NW 139
Legacy UID: National Record of the Historic Environment: 1422101
Record last edited
Mar 21 2023 4:37PM
Comments and Feedback
Do you have any questions or more information about this record? Please feel free to comment below with your name and email address. All comments are submitted to the website maintainers for moderation, and we aim to respond/publish as soon as possible. Comments, questions and answers that may be helpful to other users will be retained and displayed along with the name you supply. The email address you supply will never be displayed or shared.
Comments
Insert Link
Report Comment
Max 1000 characters. Plain text only.
Email User
Your message will be emailed to the person who posted this comment.