Pill Box, By The Kennet And Avon Canal

DEVIZES

657/0/10018 ROTHERSTONE 28-JUN-10 Pill Box, by the Kennet and Avon Canal

GV II Hexagonal Type 22, flat roofed Second World War pillbox forming part of the Stop Line Blue element of the GHQ anti-tank stop line and the nodal point of Devizes. The pillbox is situated at the top of a steep slope leading down and south to the Kennet and Avon Canal. The breeze block and reinforced concrete structure with clay brick shuttering to the walls and breeze block shuttered roof was built in late 1940 or early 1941. The pillbox is a shell proof building with five stepped profile rifle embrasures and concrete tables. There is a sixth small opening adjacent to the south facing doorway. Within the interior is a central 'Y-shaped' brick built ricochet wall.

HISTORY: After the defeat at Dunkirk in May 1940, Britain was faced with the prospect of imminent invasion. To counter this danger, an anti-invasion plan was developed by General Sir Edmund Ironside, Commander-in-Chief Home Forces who created a series of static defence lines which were largely in place by the end of the year. The General Headquarters Anti-tank Line (the GHQ stop-line) was the backbone of this strategy and the length utilising the Kennet and Avon Canal is known as Stop Line Blue. This pillbox forms part of the GHQ - Stop Line Blue, is believed to have been constructed by local builders W.E. Chivers and was built to provide protection for a nearby bridge and attack from the north and west. In addition, the defences around Devizes were developed as a nodal point because the town was considered an important centre of regional road communications. During 1941 it was reclassified as a Category B anti-tank island.

SOURCES: Defence of Britain Database S0008716

Foot, W., 2004, Defence Areas: a national study of Second World War anti-invasion landscapes in England. English Heritage and the Council for British Archaeology

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION The World War II pillbox at Rotherstone, Devizes overlooking the Kennet and Avon Canal is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Despite being of a common type the pillbox forms an integral part of a nationally important defensive stop line and nodal point * The pillbox survives well * The pillbox forms part of an historic landscape including other defensive assets * The pillbox possesses a clearly defined defence context which includes two listed buildings