Allan-Williams Turret, south of A414 road is a Grade II listed building in the St Albans local planning authority area, England. First listed on 18 August 2015. Gun emplacement, pillbox.
Allan-Williams Turret, south of A414 road
- WRENN ID
- sheer-keystone-dust
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- St Albans
- Constituency
- St Albans MP: Daisy Cooper (LD)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 18 August 2015
- Type
- Gun emplacement, pillbox
- OS grid reference
- TL 158 048
- Coordinates
- 51.73016, -0.32459
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
Allan-Williams Turret, built in 1939-40 by A.H. Williams, is a subterranean gun emplacement or pillbox located south of the A414 road. The structure features a metal turret or cupola positioned above ground over a steel and brick-lined pit. A narrow steel-lined gully extends approximately 1.5 meters south of the turret. The cupola is capable of rotating 360 degrees on roller bearings, all of which are intact in this example. It was designed for a machine gun to be fired through a front loophole, which was further protected by shutters, or through a circular opening in the roof for a light anti-aircraft function. Both the circular opening and the front loophole remain, although the shutters have been removed. The revolving bracket for supporting the gun is also still present.
Local climate
Allan-Williams Turret, south of A414 road sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 710 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 89% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 87% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 31 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 61% of listed buildings. Of these, 15 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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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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