Keeping an eye on the passers by who walk The Pilgrims Way just a few feet away, a concrete Pillbox hunkers down, ready for action when called.
A medieval religious highway for those who wished to visit the shrines of St. Swithyn and St. Thomas Becket, separated by 80 miles, a trackway to link the two.
It’s astonishing to think that close to 30,000 of these stoic structures were built during 1940, as Britain readied itself for the best real threat of German invasion.
Many still remain, with each telling its own story of ‘what if’. Could Britain really succumb to an invading army? These concrete blockhouses were strategically plotted to hinder and stall those who came to conquer.
Incidentally, Pillbox, the name derives from its shape, medicine pillbox like.