HER Number:
MDV39395
Name:
World War II Pillbox on the east of Burgh Island
Summary
Second World War pillbox on the east of Burgh Island. It is clearly visible as a structure on oblique aerial photographs taken in 1959 but not on the vertical aerial photographic coverage.
Location
Grid Reference: SX 649 439
Map Sheet: SX64SW
Admin Area- Devon, Civil Parish, Bigbury, District, South Hams
Ecclesiastical Parish
BIGBURY
Protected Status: none recorded
Other References/Statuses
National Monuments Record: 616509
Old DCC SMR Ref: SX64SW/53
Monument Type(s) and Dates
PILLBOX (World War II - 1939 AD to 1945 AD (Between))
Full description
Harold Wingham Collection, 1959, HAW Film 9392, SX 6443/1 HAW 9392/7 21-JUL-1959 (Aerial Photograph). SDV351251.
A six sided structure is visible built into the side of the slope.
Wills, H., 1985, Wills, H. 1985 Pillboxes, 74 (Monograph). SDV336210.
Wills lists polygonal concrete pillbox facing east at SX649439.
Griffith, F. M., 1986, DAP/HS, 3 (Aerial Photograph). SDV147957.
Hellis, J., 1990, List of Defensive Sites (Un-published). SDV99101.
Pillbox of local design, 7 sided, square with added triangle on front, loopholes 1/7 and 6/7, long m/g slit in 3/7 and 4/7, 7/7 in cliff.
Wasley, G., 1994, Devon at War 1939-1945, 56 (Monograph). SDV165766.
Hotel occupied by army during World War II. Two pillboxes built as defences.
Jury, R., 1996, Pillbox on North-east of Burgh Island (Worksheet). SDV356969.
Pillbox on north-east (mainland) side of island covering both Bigbury and Bantham Sands. It appears to be in occasional occupation with a TV aerial, gas cylinders and slits glassed in.
Hegarty, C. + Knight, S. + Sims, R., 2013-2014, South Devon Coast Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey National Mapping Programme Project (Interpretation). SDV351146.
The distinctively shaped pillbox is clearly visible as a structure on oblique aerial photographs taken in 1959 but not on the vertical aerial photographic coverage.
Pink, F., 2014-2015, South Devon Coast Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey Desk-Based Assessment (Interpretation). SDV357736.
https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MDV39395&resourceID=104
A World War II pillbox on a tiny Devon island has been sold at auction for £10,000 above its guide price.
The one-roomed gun tower, on the 26-acre Burgh Island, with 17-inch thick walls and glazed gun slits sold on Thursday for £80,000.
The property, called The Block House, is a few hundreds yards from mainland Bigbury-on-Sea.
It was built as part of the coastal fortifications against a Nazi invasion which never came.
Covenant attached
Interest in the property started low at £20,000, but turned into a contest between two bidders at the auction in Exeter.
The identity of the new owner is not yet known, although it has been revealed that the buyer is not from the county.
The property is on the shore below the white art deco Burgh Island Hotel whose guests have included Noel Coward and Agatha Christie.
Despite its magnificent setting and view, the Block House is a modest dwelling comprising a 17ft corridor which leads to a 93 sq ft single room with room for a single bed, cooker and TV.
The Block House also comes with a small area of vegetation, a lawn, and steps to the beach just a few feet away.
The mainland can be reached on foot at low tide or by sea tractor when the tide is in.
The property - one of up to 20,000 such pillboxes built round the UK coastline - is in one of the most sought-after areas of the South West.
There is a covenant attached to the property saying it must be bought by a fisherman or boatman.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/3663750.stm
The Shoot!
Thinking about where I want to begin this project has been fairly straightforward for me. I still am not completely sure where I am going to direct this body of work so I am going to spend the next week going to some locations and shooting. I think this will help me learn where my strengths lie and help me refine my ideas of the project going into the future. I also think this is the best way of procrastination and I am eager to get out and shoot some photos after having a short break since the end of the last project.
Burgh Island is a place that I am often looking at. Usually, when I am bobbing around in the sea at Bantham waiting for the next set of waves to wash me out as I try and surf them. The history of the island is something that I am not that familiar with but the pillbox at the top of the island is something that stands out.
This week I have been working on a roof in Big Bury, and the view of the pillbox at the top of the roof was an amazon picture. On Monday morning I was watching the morning light hit the island and I felt an instant need to come back the next morning to shoot the island. Well, how did that go?...not very well!! I work up in Plymouth to a lovely blue sky morning so thought that I was in for a treat with some lush morning light hitting the island again. I was quite wrong, as I drove closure to Big Bury, the morning sea mist was getting thicker which was quite frustrating. One I got to the position I wanted I realised that I wasn’t going to get any of the shots that I had imagined the morning before. When I climbed back up onto the roof I also found out that I did not put the lens adapter I needed in order to use my 70-200mm lens so it was just a big fail from the get-go. However, with the light not on my side, I was not too frustrated as I knew that I was not going to get any project worthy images.
The quality of these photographs is far from the quality that I aspire too. However, I am glad that I went out to shoot, and it is a location that I would like to return to in the future of this project when the light is on my side. I just did a quick Lightroom edit on this photograph to pull the detail and colour out of the photograph a bit more. The mist has softened the sharpness of the photograph which is frustrating, however with the conditions that I had that morning I am pleased that I have managed to pull out as much as this in the photograph.
This was a quickfire shoot and I had not planned on doing it this week, it was a spear of the moment shoot as I thought the light was going to be on my side.