maxell Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 A recent trip I took to the Cuckmere Haven last weekend I found this partly uncovered pillbox. No biggi but i walked this area several times and only just noticed it. I hope no one here thinks iv neglected my reports, I should be back to reporting duties in a week or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick W Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 Would be interesting to see if that is on any maps of the defences. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul connor Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 Are you sure its a Pillbox? as it would not have any firing ability with a loophole like that? unless they were to shoot up peoples trouser legs? lol Serious though, is it a door or loophole? as the section looks very narrow for a roof> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxell Posted January 2, 2010 Author Share Posted January 2, 2010 Are you sure its a Pillbox? as it would not have any firing ability with a loophole like that? unless they were to shoot up peoples trouser legs? lol Serious though, is it a door or loophole? as the section looks very narrow for a roof> lol, no its a loophole!. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick W Posted January 2, 2010 Share Posted January 2, 2010 Speaking from an archaeological perspective. The concrete in the foreground seems to be different to the box. The steel loop looks like a fairly recent addition, no corrosion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxell Posted January 2, 2010 Author Share Posted January 2, 2010 It was blocked up and backfilled the entrance may have been on the back wall. There is a lot of flood defence work that goes on here so I guess it may be a victim of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul connor Posted January 3, 2010 Share Posted January 3, 2010 Have you got a six fig, Ill pop down and take a look next weekend as im off,fancy a dual trip? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxell Posted January 4, 2010 Author Share Posted January 4, 2010 Have you got a six fig, Ill pop down and take a look next weekend as im off,fancy a dual trip? Sure, il shot you a PM as i need to make sure im not working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul connor Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 (edited) It was indeed a Pillbox, its shown on the Defence maps and has been partly buried by flooding on the plains behind. It seems to be a one man pillbox with a single loop hole. hope the pictures help.. Idea of the defences interior of the hidden pillbox I was going to further explore the pillboxes to the West of the river by I ran low on time. Also wanted to visit the Generator bunker which powered the mock Newhaven light system they used over the flood plains to draw fire from German bombers. Rather than Bombing the real thing. Ingenious Idea! If any one is interested ill dig out the images of it all,as I visited around 2002 last time Paul Edited January 28, 2010 by paul connor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
private mw Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 intresting :laugh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gritineye Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 If any one is interested ill dig out the images of it all,as I visited around 2002 last time Yes please Paul, we often walk this area and I have tried to work out how it all fitted together, and what periods certain bits where. Have you looked further west on Seaford Head south of the barn that has obvious signs of military rebuilding, there are signs of a gunnery range south of it. On the west side of the barn where the rendering has come off lately, un-weathered flint work can be see just like the day it was built, very rare to see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul connor Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 I'm not sure if we mean the same barn,do you have a link on streetmap you could send? On the head itself there are a few odd power bunkers. But the main power bunker can be located on the Eastbourne road. Head west towards Seaford,pass over the mini bridge and the pub at Cuckmere Haven, then as you come up the hill keep an eye on the hedge line to your nearside. There is a brief gap of brickwork,this is the blast wall of the Power room. It was not locked but is gated,I have visited twice but not in recent years. Its a buried Nissan hut in 3 rooms, with concrete blast walls and reinforce. Also had a weird duvet kind of substance on the roof with mesh wire over it! never have worked out quite what that was for, sound deadening perhaps? I shall get the photos out of my Hard disk tomorrow as its a right 'alladins'cave! thats the location of the Power station Bunker, If anyone has a look please let me know if its open, A word of warning,only enter Via the Gate! not the side or hole in the roof that have bars on now(council addition) as you will get stuck/hurt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gritineye Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 (edited) The barn is circled, the concrete roads are all wartime, note the road loop to the east, under the golfcourse to the west you can see a corresponding one. the gunnery range was between the barn and sea cliff, the details escape me at the mo but there used to be bits of a target rail track as well. It is OK to drive and park up there from Seaford. Edited January 28, 2010 by gritineye Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gritineye Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 A couple of pix of the flint work on the barn, the new looking work can be seen at the bottom of the first, it weathers down very quickly once exposed. These were taken 2005, a couple of years after the first small bit fell off, so more must have come off by now, these barns are hardly ever rendered, the fact that it is reflects the exposed position. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gritineye Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 Sorry, a little off topic but worth a visit on a nice day just to let your imagination wander In the ring of trees beside the obvious farm building remains in this picture is where a large barn stood. This was a very important barn as on a clear day one can see from Dungeness to the Isle of Wight from there. Locals say Churchill and Montgomery amongst others were seen there. Apparently it was heavily reinforced with concrete inside to look normal outside, which makes one wonder why it was demolished as it would have been unlikely to have just fallen down. When I built a farmhouse nearby, the owner got me to build the date stone from over the door of this barn into his chimney breast above the fireplace, he had kept it for years just for that purpose, he loves the Churchill connection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul connor Posted February 6, 2010 Share Posted February 6, 2010 Sorry to my lack of replies, been bogged down with work and the landrover. The barn you are talking of, that was demolished around 15 years ago,also had an underground command bunker there. It was all taken down and backfilled due to tramps and other unsavouries living/loitering there. Shame as I do not think there are any pictures of it all! The old main road used to run up past that area, there is still an Ammo store building just south of there. In reference to Cuckmere, I shall dig through my photos in a while and see what I can post up that would show the light system. PAul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxell Posted February 7, 2010 Author Share Posted February 7, 2010 I'm not sure if we mean the same barn,do you have a link on streetmap you could send? On the head itself there are a few odd power bunkers. But the main power bunker can be located on the Eastbourne road. Head west towards Seaford,pass over the mini bridge and the pub at Cuckmere Haven, then as you come up the hill keep an eye on the hedge line to your nearside. There is a brief gap of brickwork,this is the blast wall of the Power room. It was not locked but is gated,I have visited twice but not in recent years. Its a buried Nissan hut in 3 rooms, with concrete blast walls and reinforce. Also had a weird duvet kind of substance on the roof with mesh wire over it! never have worked out quite what that was for, sound deadening perhaps? I shall get the photos out of my Hard disk tomorrow as its a right 'alladins'cave! thats the location of the Power station Bunker, If anyone has a look please let me know if its open, A word of warning,only enter Via the Gate! not the side or hole in the roof that have bars on now(council addition) as you will get stuck/hurt The bunker that your refering to is the Cuckmere cable station built late 1942 - early 43 to provide a connection with submarine telephone cable with the W/T station up on Willingdon Hill, which was a combined army/navy (and possibly RAF later on) venture. As stated in this book 'Operation Cuckmere Haven' by Peter Longstaff-Tyrrell and quoted by gaspirator else were. Paul if you can find time to dig about for those internal photos of this then il post the ones i got from recent visit. maxell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gritineye Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 Shame as I do not think there are any pictures of it all! The old main road used to run up past that area, there is still an Ammo store building just south of there.PAul I will ask the farmer who has the date stone if he has any photos, and what he remembers, may be a while though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul connor Posted February 8, 2010 Share Posted February 8, 2010 The bunker in question may have housed communication equipment as well, but to my knowledge from locals as well as another local author(Mace) suggest it was also/used for generators as well. It has an external guard sentry box. The Willington Hill site had an undergound bunker, which I mentioned in the post above. As well as other surface features, I would suspect it had an AA battery because of the ammunition store located close by with blast roof. A “submarine” telephone cable sounds rather odd to be laid up to one of the highest points in the area? I have found quite a few errors in L/tyrrells work of the years Ref:pillboxes so I always double check. The interior of the Bunker is formed of an entrance with blast door, a single sqaure room with doors left and right leading to essentually buried nissan huts. With emergency exits/ventilatio at each end. One of the rooms is lined with an odd white duvet and mesh style material and the other had metal work close to what I would link to generator mounts. I could also be wrong but it strikes me as the idea place to house the generator rooms for the decoy lights of newhaven,I have read other historians work placing it as such. But its very hard with many of these locations and due to the offical secrets act of the time we will never fully know im sure. Maxell, I will post the interior pics and plans soon, but for now I have to go through and water mark them,as I have seen my own plans and diagrams pop up on other less reputable website forums the last few weeks, as well as my pictures. I'll PM you when I have done it for an update Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxell Posted February 8, 2010 Author Share Posted February 8, 2010 Maxell, I will post the interior pics and plans soon, but for now I have to go through and water mark them,as I have seen my own plans and diagrams pop up on other less reputable website forums the last few weeks, as well as my pictures. I'll PM you when I have done it for an update Ah if its the Google earth snap shot that youve seen im guilty of that, I used it with the snaps i took. As for anything else then not sure?. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul connor Posted February 9, 2010 Share Posted February 9, 2010 Maxell, that was not directed at you, I don't know who was using my images, but the forum admin of the site took them down.. seems people must browse here from Urbex forms Also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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