Pill Box, By The Kennet And Avon Canal

This is a late 1940 or early 1941 pillbox, a hexagonal Type 22 structure with a flat roof, situated by the Kennet and Avon Canal near Devizes. It forms part of Stop Line Blue, an element of the General Headquarters (GHQ) anti-tank stop line and a nodal point related to Devizes’ regional road communications. The structure is built of breeze block and reinforced concrete, with clay brick shuttering to the walls and a breeze block shuttered roof. It is a shell-proof building featuring five stepped profile rifle embrasures and concrete tables, with a sixth small opening adjacent to the south-facing doorway. Inside, a ‘Y-shaped’ brick wall provides ricochet protection. Constructed by local builders W.E. Chivers, the pillbox was originally intended to protect a nearby bridge from attack from the north and west. During 1941, it was reclassified as a Category B anti-tank island. Following the defeat at Dunkirk in May 1940, this defensive structure was part of a series of static defence lines created to counter the threat of invasion. The pillbox is designated at Grade II for its integral role in a nationally important defensive stop line and nodal point, its good survival, its position within a historic defensive landscape, and its clear defence context, which includes two listed buildings.