Title: |
Wiggington, Second World War Pill Box |
Series: |
Oxford Archaeological Unit unpublished report series
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Downloads: |
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Licence Type: |
ADS Terms of Use and Access
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DOI |
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Publication Type: |
Report (in Series)
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Abstract: |
Oxford Archaeology (OA) has carried out a programme of building recording and investigation on a WWII anti-invasion defence pillbox situated at the crossing of the West Coast Mainline Railway and the River Tame at Wiggington near Tamworth Staffordshire. The work was carried out in advance of demolition of the structure as part of the improvement of the line between Tamworth and Lichfield. Two new tracks are being constructed on the site of former tracks which must have been removed before 1940. The pillbox stands on the east side of the present tracks on the site of the removed line, overlooking the river crossing. Piers of a former bridge which carried the removed tracks were also being demolished as part of the work. The pillbox was a local variant and not a standard war office design. The structure was small and rectangular in plan with a single pitched roof to imitate a platelayers hut in size and shape. The entrance was in the east side and each elevation contained a gun embrasure which splayed inwards. There was a central internal anti-richochet wall which divided the firing positions and left cramped conditions for the defenders. The pillbox core was constructed of shuttered concrete in stages and small blocks of wood were inset into the exterior face of the concrete to act as fixing points, presumably for a false shed structure, now lost, to disguise the true function of the pillbox. Some of these blocks survived but many had gone leaving the empty mortise like cavities. The strength of the structure allowed it to be removed in one piece rather than demolished and it is to be preserved at the Staffordshire Regiment Museum. |
Author: |
Oxford Archaeology
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Publisher: |
Oxford Archaeology
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Other Person/Org: |
Historic England (OASIS Reviewer)
Staffordshire Historic Environment Record (OASIS Reviewer)
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Year of Publication: |
2005
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Locations: |
Site: |
Wiggington, Second World War Pill Box |
County: |
Staffordshire |
District: |
Lichfield |
Parish: |
WHITTINGTON |
Country: |
England |
Grid Reference: 418550, 306730 (Easting, Northing)
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Subjects / Periods: |
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Identifiers: |
OASIS Id: |
oxfordar1-50685 |
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Note: |
A4 plastic bound copy
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Source: |
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Relations: |
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Created Date: |
01 Feb 2018 |