BobOsborn
TSL Ilton - 2-Storey Pillbox - 04 upper entrance
Taunton Stop Line 2-storey Pillbox at Ilton, Somerset, England.
National Grid Ref. ST 343 170
This southwest facing 2-storey pillbox is on the site of the old Ilton Halt on the Taunton to Chard railway. Troops manning the upper storey would be able to see over the top of the embankment and observe any enemy movement on the ground beyond. It was disguised as a railway water tower during WWII.
Wooden steps would have let to a wooden platform supported by the metal girdars to give access to the upper floor.
The Taunton Stop Line was a continuous line of defences and anti-tank obstacles stretching from the north coast of Somerset down to Seaton in Devon. Its purpose was to delay enemy armoured vehicles, which might land further to the south and west on the beaches of Devon or Cornwall, in their advance toward Bristol and the Midlands, long enough at any given point along the Stop Line for mobile units of the Army to arrive and deal with the incursion.
Photographed 26 November 2009.
TSL Ilton - 2-Storey Pillbox - 04 upper entrance
Taunton Stop Line 2-storey Pillbox at Ilton, Somerset, England.
National Grid Ref. ST 343 170
This southwest facing 2-storey pillbox is on the site of the old Ilton Halt on the Taunton to Chard railway. Troops manning the upper storey would be able to see over the top of the embankment and observe any enemy movement on the ground beyond. It was disguised as a railway water tower during WWII.
Wooden steps would have let to a wooden platform supported by the metal girdars to give access to the upper floor.
The Taunton Stop Line was a continuous line of defences and anti-tank obstacles stretching from the north coast of Somerset down to Seaton in Devon. Its purpose was to delay enemy armoured vehicles, which might land further to the south and west on the beaches of Devon or Cornwall, in their advance toward Bristol and the Midlands, long enough at any given point along the Stop Line for mobile units of the Army to arrive and deal with the incursion.
Photographed 26 November 2009.