First World War pillbox, Second World War pillbox and anti-tank cubes, Merrikin's Pullover

Pillbox, built 1917, associated pillbox and anti-tank cubes, built 1940-41.

MATERIALS: concrete, reinforced with expanded metal lath sheeting (Expamet) and steel rails, poured in-situ with timber shuttering internally, sandbag shuttering externally.

PLAN: single cell trapezoid.

EXTERIOR: NE (seaward) elevation is blind and convex. NW and SE elevations each have a single, low set, wide-splayed machine gun embrasure. The rear has a single, rebated doorway mainly blocked with late C20 brickwork, accessed via a shallow trench. The exterior of the structure has a rusticated appearance left by the sandbag shuttering.

INTERIOR: now largely sand-filled. Below each embrasure there is a recess thought to have accommodated the front leg of the machine gun tripod.

SUBSIDIARY ITEMS:

Second World War pillbox: reinforced concrete poured in situ with timber shuttering, only 0.35m thick (thus bullet/blast proof, not shell proof). Rectangular plan of three cells, the central being an open well with a central concrete post-mounting for a light anti-aircraft machine gun set above an ammunition recess. To either side are bricked-up doorways to the flanking, enclosed chambers, each of which has a single central embrasure to each of the three external faces.

Anti-tank cubes: ten cubes, diamond-set on plan into three rows. Cubes are reinforced concrete measuring approximately 5 feet (1.5m) across.