What I did on my holiday 2024 – Part 4: a Castle, a Pillbox and a village coincidence

[BootsDMS]

Well, as Armorama members may have noted, I’ve been proceeding quite quickly (for me) on my Object 450/T-74 project; for once I was actually in the modelling groove. However, (there’s always an however) my Zero Alpha decided we needed a 4 day break. So that was it, and now you know why it’s all been quiet on the western – well – south-western front.

So it was that after a mere 2 hour drive we found ourselves in a sodden Somerset – a neighbouring county hence the relatively short distance.

To be honest, nothing of much military or historical interest to report so as I said, this is really an apologia for my absence and lack of modelling progress. However, - I did say there’s always an “however” we did visit Dunstan Castle – which although was converted relatively early on in its life from a fortification to a residence/palace was not uninteresting. Oh, I did describe Somerset – or at least this part of it – as sodden; well, it rained every and most of the day.

Moving on from the Middle Ages, at a nearby beach I did discover this pillbox, which rather curiously, was covered in the same stones as formed the misnamed beach. It does nothing to disguise that it is in fact, a pillbox, as one can see. I wonder what the military powers were thinking of back in 1940 or thereabouts?

Despite the torrential rain, we still exercised our dog ,Wren, and ourselves, which sort of sucked the fun out of a fair bit; however, (again) during one of our meandering drives I came across this sign at a small village and couldn’t help but insist on a photo:

(note that the rain had briefly ceased on such a holy undertaking!)

I mean, what the hell? A modicum of Googling by my wife amidst the pouring rain gave extensive descriptions of the so-called “twinning” (which I’ve always considered slightly absurd) but no clue as to “why”. Despite my curiosity, and also having trod the pavé of Villers Bocage twice (I have truly been so lucky in my military career), in the end I gave up. Perhaps the rain just got to me.

Well, all too brief an interlude perhaps, but now, back to the bench!

[MoramarthT]

@BootsDMS

It does nothing to disguise that it is in fact, a pillbox, as one can see.

Possibly there were additional elements when it was constructed that helped disguise its nature; these could have been less survivable than a pillbox which by their nature are difficult and costly to remove (the non-earthwork portions of our local coast defence battery survived until (IIRC) the 1990s when it’s removal was funded by an EEC grant, it wasn’t a priority expenditure item for the local council).
On the other hand, the patterns formed by the stones do tend to emphasise the location of the embrasures, something one would not associate with a visual deception scheme. It could be incompetence by a well-meaning but ignorant local contractor, but given the intractable nature of pillboxes it might have been a cheap post-war improvisation to “prettify” an eyesore rather than remove it?

Cheers,

M

[BootsDMS]

No, my comments were less than forensic and mostly tongue in cheek. The whole shoreline would, I’m sure, have looked very different way back when. In a way, I’m just glad it’s still there - both for current investigations and for the future.

I take your point regarding post -war use; too difficult (and expensive) to destroy, so let’s make it blend in.

Of course, amateur military archaeologist that I purport to be, I was still chuffed at the find!

[MoramarthT]

Looks as if I was wrong, it was just the custom in that part of the world…

Cheers,

M

[BootsDMS]

Form before function eh?

[JPTRR]

Built to last!