Monument record LCS 110 - World War II strongpoints and barbed wire obstructions.

World War II strongpoints and barbed wire obstructions are visible on aerial photographs as structures and earthworks, centred on TM47356316. In 1940 aerial photography, 2 strongpoints are visible (S1). The first is centred on circa TM47196324, and is composed of 2 pillboxes (at TM47206325 and TM47196324) connected by a length of trench roughly 55m in length, surrounded by a circle of barbed wire enclosing an area of just under 1 hectare. The pillboxes are set into the bank of an old boundary division, recorded as LCS 107. The second strongpoint forms part of the coastal defences proper. It consists of a pillbox overlooking the beach, centred on TM47506316, protected on the seaward side by the barbed wire and beach scaffolding coastal defences (see LCS 127, LCS 119), and surrounded on the inland side by an arc of barbed wire circa 35m long. There may be additional structures inside this strongpoint in 1940, but the quality of the photographs prevents positive identification. By 1941 the defences in this area have evolved (S2). The first strongpoint has lost half of its surrounding circle of barbed wire, and is left with an arc running wire anti-clockwise from circa TM47216327 to TM47196317. The second strongpoint has lost its arc of barbed wire completely, and is now within a much larger barbed wire enclosure, which runs westwards in a zigzag fashion from TM47486320, around a small area of managed woodland immediately to the west of the pillbox, and then bifurcates at circa TM47296301, presumably to prevent access inland form this direction. By this time, two weapons pits or machine gun posts have been establish in this area. The first is just inside the new limit of the barbed wire, roughly 40m west of the pillbox, at circa TM47476318, and the second is within the managed woodland at circa TM47376305. Two lengths of slit trench may also be established to the south of the woodland at this time, at circa TM47396296 and TM47496296, but the ground is very disturbed on the photographs and it is impossible to be certain. However, they are well established by 1945, and are clearly visible on photographs from 1946 (S3).