Originally Posted by Suddick

Originally Posted by BarkingSpider

They're ether left over from construction or they were planning to add more pillboxes and they were waiting to be used. They looked liked they have never been used at all.

BS - I have seen something similar locally (Weeton Camp). Prefabricated telephone junction box. Could it be that?

No, I don't think so. I've now measured them and the ones fitted in the two storey pillbox (pictured earlier in the thread) and their dimensions are identical. They could be from a generic prefabricated gun-slit system, ready to be built into any structure. Just add bricks, mortar and a concrete slab roof and you've got yourself a pillbox. I think we'll be wanting to save some of them whatever happens to the pillboxes.

Originally Posted by RAMC

Recently heard about some being used as homes for rare bats. Ok , yes, I confess I'm a civvy and I listen to nature programs...

Hope that they get used more than these then LINKY

Good luck B.S, hope you manage to get them saved. Sorry if i sounded defeatist, was just trying to think of alternate endings for them. If they are not in the direct build site they should be left where they are.

We have found a 1939 dug-out, complete with the date set in stone in one of the bricks, near Faversham. No idea what it was intended for, but it is/was hard to find and we stumbled on it by accident. It has a staircase leading to the entrance but a small crawlspace at the end as an exit (emergency?)

Shouldn't let any more of these get filled in/knocked down for no reason. Carry on that man!

I had to go go to Bognor today on the train (someone has to), there's a pillbox near the Barnham junction that's been painted by Fathers for Justice "Free Fritz" or something similar.
Oddly enough it's in the middle of nowhere and facing North.

Originally Posted by Sid_Ruff

Good luck B.S, hope you manage to get them saved. Sorry if i sounded defeatist, was just trying to think of alternate endings for them. If they are not in the direct build site they should be left where they are.

We have found a 1939 dug-out, complete with the date set in stone in one of the bricks, near Faversham. No idea what it was intended for, but it is/was hard to find and we stumbled on it by accident. It has a staircase leading to the entrance but a small crawlspace at the end as an exit (emergency?)

Shouldn't let any more of these get filled in/knocked down for no reason. Carry on that man!

Actually I think defeatist is good because it lets us see what the worse case scenario might be. :D
There will definitely be one single story box saved, this has been agreed through the council planning department. What we'd like to do is save the other two (especially the two storey one). If we can save one single and one two storey pillbox then that's the minimum we'd like to see saved. Ideally we'd save the lot simply because their context is very important. I've just heard that they were important to the working of the cannon range and now I'm thinking that the two storey one wasn't actually a pillbox 'per se', but an OP for the cannon range. Given the raised viewing point this would seem sensible for spotting the cannon butts which were a few fields away where there is now a housing estate. We'd need to access restricted maps from the time to find that out for sure. The munitions factory doesn't appear on any Ordnance Survey maps - for obvious reasons, so all we have at the moment is their context with one another and the factory building.
We've now found out that there are the remains of some derelict Anderson shelters at the other side of the factory building. People keep coming forward and submitting little bits of gen which will help us build a bigger picture. There's no question in my mind that the site is important. If you look forward fifty years how important will it be historically if we can save them today?

Regarding your dug-out, try contacting Andy Brockman of the Digging Dads Army project. he might be able to tell you what it is with a few pictures. There's an online forum here:

Digging Dad's Army Forum

Originally Posted by Sid_Ruff

We have found a 1939 dug-out, complete with the date set in stone in one of the bricks, near Faversham. No idea what it was intended for, but it is/was hard to find and we stumbled on it by accident. It has a staircase leading to the entrance but a small crawlspace at the end as an exit (emergency?)

I wonder if it may have been an Auxiliary Force hide?

Originally Posted by 5645andym

Originally Posted by Sid_Ruff

We have found a 1939 dug-out, complete with the date set in stone in one of the bricks, near Faversham. No idea what it was intended for, but it is/was hard to find and we stumbled on it by accident. It has a staircase leading to the entrance but a small crawlspace at the end as an exit (emergency?)

I wonder if it may have been an Auxiliary Force hide?

Not sure, it is located on the corner of a wood just outside the village, the local farmer used it as a storage bunker but it is in perfect condition.

Originally Posted by Sid_Ruff

Originally Posted by 5645andym

Originally Posted by Sid_Ruff

We have found a 1939 dug-out, complete with the date set in stone in one of the bricks, near Faversham. No idea what it was intended for, but it is/was hard to find and we stumbled on it by accident. It has a staircase leading to the entrance but a small crawlspace at the end as an exit (emergency?)

I wonder if it may have been an Auxiliary Force hide?

Not sure, it is located on the corner of a wood just outside the village, the local farmer used it as a storage bunker but it is in perfect condition.

Any chance of some pictures?

I recall reading in The B.A.R an article on the PBs that were thrown up in the aftermath of Dunkirk, that they were built by local contractors, that many were placed where they were easily seen but had no useful field of fire, and finally that the construction of a large concrete roof mounted on a set of thinish brick walls was a recipe for collapse in the first bombardment.

The author wrote under a pseudonym and I've forgotten it, but he did write another article entitled;
'I want my Bren gun carrier back"

There are still many to be seen in Kent, but in my area some were lost when the North Circular was enlarged, and also when new houses were being built. Although that one you'd be hard pushed to get shot at from, being at the bottom of a slope.

We used to have a large set of communal air raid shelters in the local park which were eventually demolished.

Originally Posted by Chef

The author wrote under a pseudonym and I've forgotten it, but he did write another article entitled;
'I want my Bren gun carrier back"

Sydney Jary?