Cantilevered pillbox beside Rampton Road, Longstanton is a Grade II listed building in the South Cambridgeshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 1 December 2011. Military structure.

Cantilevered pillbox beside Rampton Road, Longstanton

WRENN ID
blind-string-cedar
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
South Cambridgeshire
Constituency
St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire MP: Ian Sollom (LD)
Country
England
Date first listed
1 December 2011
Type
Military structure
OS grid reference
TL 401 666
Coordinates
52.27996, 0.05329
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The cantilevered pillbox beside Rampton Road in Longstanton is a Grade II listed structure made from reinforced concrete and London Brick Company Phorpres bricks. Built in a circular and partially subterranean design, it was intended to be covered with earthworks to avoid detection from both the ground and the air.

The pillbox measures approximately 5.5 meters in diameter and features a disc-shaped roof made of reinforced concrete, which is supported at its center by a substantial, brick cruciform-shaped anti-ricochet wall. Surrounding the perimeter is a composite curtain wall made of brick and concrete that extends about 30 centimeters below the outer edge of the roof, allowing for an open observation and firing slit around the entire structure. The brick entrances are stepped down to the interior.

Inside, the central anti-ricochet wall supports the roof and provides easy access around the circumference of the pillbox. A 5-centimeter tubular steel rail is fixed to the inside of the curtain wall, allowing machine-gun turnbulls to slide and be locked in any position.

Local climate

Cantilevered pillbox beside Rampton Road, Longstanton sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 690 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 97% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 93% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 34 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 53% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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