These peculiar concrete remains are located in the wooden area west of the current sewage works, just north of the waterline. We came across the mysterious ruins for the first time in early 2013, and they were indeed quite impressive! It was a privilege to be the first to photograph the construction although it wasn’t…
View More
The Slade Green HAA site (also known as ZS1) was the most easterly anti-aircraft site built inside the London Inner Artillery Zone. Dating back to the late 1930’s, it was possibly built as a prototype to be used as a last resort should any aircraft have passed by the other defences along the river Thames….
View More
The Occidental Jetty is a Canvey Island landmark that we quite admire. It was built with the intention of pumping oil from ships into the semi-complete Occidental Oil Refinery, abandoned due to the 1973 Oil Crisis’ legacy. You can see the pipes alongside it today. Two industrial containers rot ontop to this very day –…
View More
Known as 1, The Thames – this 19th century fort is situated 500 meters out into the mouth of the River Medway and was built to protect local dockyards from the potential invasion from the French. In 2014 the fort was up for sale and was sold for around £400,000 but the Grade II listed…
View More
The area north-east of Sutton Road Cemetery and Temple Farm Industrial Estate in Southend is home to numerous pillboxes, and once there was probably even more. Whilst these pillboxes are too far east to be a part of the GHQ line of defence along England’s eastern coast, they were probably instead built to protect the…
View More
Grain Dummy Battery, originally known as Grain Battery, was built shortly before Grain Fort, completed in 1865 to support two nearby forts; Grain Fort and Grain Wing Battery. Following the usual design for batteries, it consisted of several gun emplacements with magazines below. Unlike other forts, it’s likely that this one was out of service…
View More
After setting off from the explosives site at Coryton, we headed on a trek across the marshes towards the town of Fobbing. We were searching for a ‘Starfish’ site – one of a few that survive today. In January 1940, Britain’s decoy programme began and was designed to distract aircraft to sites that had supposedly…
View More
Situated around a mile west from Coalhouse Fort, this Lozenge pillbox has been the victim of coastal erosion. Once sitting on the Essex marshes it now lies half sunken into the earth and half resting on the sand below. Inside, the pillbox is quite spacious and even has some of the original shutters and shutter…
View More
Comprised of former farmland, Wick Country Park in Wickford spans 50 acres with over 2km of walking trails. Dotted amongst the site are three pillboxes – only one of which can be accessed inside, the others have been sealed up to prevent any damage. During construction works on the park in 2001, earth excavations discovered…
View More
First visited in the summer of 2012, Bowers Gifford is home to five surviving pillboxes which would have formed part of the GHQ defence line. Fifty of these lines were built and this particular one stretched from Canvey Island up to Colchester and would have been the first line of defence for London. Around 400…
View More