World War Two anti-invasion structures, Ruishton, Somerset

Summary

Second World War defences comprising five pillboxes, a rail block and anti-tank tetrahedra, erected 1940-41, and forming part of the Taunton Stop Line.

Description

Second World War defences comprising five pillboxes, a rail block and anti-tank tetrahedra, erected between 1940 and 1941, and forming part of the Taunton Stop Line.

MATERIALS: constructed of reinforced concrete.

PLAN: a group of defensive structures in a linear arrangement, and aligned north-west to south-east.

DESCRIPTION:

PILLBOX N74 (ST27064 25323, not inspected 2015) is situated on the canal embankment immediately to the south of the aqueduct which carried the Chard Canal over the River Tone. It is a standard type 24 design of corrugated-iron shuttered concrete and has sunk into the canal bed almost level with its embrasures.

PILLBOX T35 (ST27065 25103) was added in late 1940 or early 1941 and is located on the east side of the railway embankment. It faces west and is a type 24 pillbox of shuttered concrete, with some modification to the standard design. It has a doorway in its east side and embrasures to its other faces for light machine guns (LMG) and possibly Vickers medium machine guns (MMG) although there is no evidence of interior support for the latter. The two larger embrasures (north-west and south-east) are on the same alignment as the railway track and are understood to retain their internal steel shutters. The concrete raft on which the pillbox sits is exposed.

ANTI-TANK TETRAHEDRON (ST27134 25030) situated beneath the canal embankment on the north side of the Ruishton-Creech St Michael road. Contemporary documents indicate that a road block (NRD 10) was established here in 1940, and originally consisted of ‘concrete (filled) cars’, an experimental system employed following a Southern Command Instruction of 1 July 1940 which recommended the use of old vehicles as road blocks. The experiment, however, failed since the car wheels could not take the weight of the concrete and collapsed. The cars were subsequently replaced by a horizontal road block and 24 concrete anti-tank tetrahedra. These features have since been dismantled except for this one anti-tank tetrahedron. It stands some 1.5m high and has a pyramidal top.

PILLBOX N75 (ST27140 25009) is located on the south side of the Ruishton-Creech St Michael road, at the base of the canal embankment. It is a variant pillbox that is described in contemporary 1940 documents as having been 'built in tunnel at old canal site (special shape)'. The pillbox incorporates a pre-existing stone ashlar-lined tunnel within canal embankment which serves as its entrance and which is described in historic documents as a site for the storage of anti-tank mines and explosives that could be used at road blocks and for bridge demolition respectively. At the east end of the tunnel is a blast wall of red brick. The tunnel entrance has recently (2015) been blocked, and its single rifle loophole is no longer extant. The pillbox itself is semi-circular on plan and has been constructed against the west end of the tunnel. It is built of concrete and is faced with random stone rubble which serves to camouflage the structure. A new entrance with a modern door has been inserted in the south side of the structure. There are four embrasures, two of which were for Bren light machine guns (LMG) that would have been mounted on tripods and could fire on ‘fixed lines’ in poor visibility. One LMG covered the road under the railway bridge to the west and the other allowed enfilade fire northwards along the old canal embankment. The other two embrasures were for rifles.

PILLBOX T34 (ST27156 24997) was constructed in November 1940 or later and is located on top of the canal embankment to the south-east of, and above, pillbox N75. It is a type 24 pillbox of corrugated iron shuttered concrete, but with some modification to the standard design. Its foundations are exposed. It is an irregular hexagon on plan with a three-sided front (west) face. The rear (west) side has a central doorway, with modern door, with flanking embrasures, and single embrasures to each of the other sides, all covered with perspex sheeting. A large embrasure in one of the east faces retains its internal steel shutter.

PILLBOX N76 (ST27156 24895) is located forward (west) of the canal, on the east side of the railway embankment. It is understood to be one of only two pillboxes on the Stop Line that were built in front of the anti-tank obstacle (here formed by the canal embankment), since the vast majority were sited behind the obstacle so that they could not be directly attacked by tanks or infantry at point-blank range. This pillbox was erected to overcome the very short and limited arcs of fire from the pillbox (N75) below the canal embankment and is said to have been painted black to camouflage it as a railway plate-layer’s hut. It is a standard type 24 pillbox of vertical corrugated-iron shuttered concrete with a solid concrete roof. It is an irregular hexagon on plan with a three-sided front (west) face. The rear (east) side has a central doorway, with modern door, with flanking embrasures, and single embrasures to each of the other sides, all covered with perspex sheeting.

RAIL BLOCK NRL 30 AND FOUR ANTI-TANK TETRAHEDRA (ST2715 624865) situated on the railway embankment and visible on 1947 RAF aerial photographs together with a second rail block (NRL29) to the north which does not survive. The rail block consists of two large, trapezoidal, reinforced concrete blocks positioned on either side for the former railway track. Each block contains a vertical slot or socket that would have held a horizontal rail. Immediately to the east are four anti-tank tetrahedra running west-east which were erected to prevent tanks moving along the railway track and attacking pillboxes in this area. Each tetrahedra is c.1.2m wide, projects about 1m from the ground, and has a low-pointed pyramid top.

Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the canal embankment into which pillbox N75 has been constructed is not of special architectural or historic interest; the flood arch itself, however, is of interest and is included.

History

Following the withdrawal of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk in May and June 1940 there was an urgent need to strengthen the country’s anti-invasion defences which resulted in the construction of stop lines to provide a series of anti-tank obstacles which could be used to hold up the enemy, slowing progress and restricting the route of an attack.

Work on the Taunton Stop Line, a continuous anti-tank obstacle from Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset to Seaton in Devon, was carried out between July and November 1940 in response to the threat of a German invasion. Its purpose was to delay any advancing enemy armoured vehicles should they land to the west or south. The Stop Line followed the course of pre-existing barriers such as canals, rivers and railways along much of its length and was built by private contractors and army personnel. The defences included over 300 pillboxes, medium machine gun and anti-tank emplacements, road and rail blocks, infantry trenches and anti-tank ditches. From the autumn of 1940, anti-tank islands (all-round defences) were established at twelve locations along the Stop Line, of which nine were in Somerset, including Creech St Michael. Here the Stop Line joined and followed the line of the disused Chard Canal (closed 1868) as far as Ilton to the south-east before then following the Great Western Railway. A number of defensive structures survive around Creech St Michael, and to the south of the village are a group of pillboxes, anti-tank cubes, and a rail block. These are concentrated along the line of the former canal where it crossed the road between Creech St Michael and Ruishton and ran parallel with the Taunton and Chard branch of the Bristol and Exeter (later the Great Western) Railway which closed in 1964 and they form a coherent group of structures.

Reasons for Listing

The Second World War anti-invasion defences to the south of Creech St Michael, which were erected in 1940-41 and formed part of the Taunton Stop Line, are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Historical interest: as part of a key Second World War military program of inland defence works and as a poignant reminder of the threat of invasion in the early years of the war;
* Intactness: despite minor alterations to three of the pillboxes, they retain their essential character and legibility in terms of their plan and function;
* Design: for the interesting and unusual hybrid form of one of the pillboxes (N75) which utilised an existing tunnel beneath the canal;
* Group value: as a coherent and inter-related group, these anti-invasion features have a strong relationship with each other and in the wider context of similar structures along this important defence line.

External Links

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