Second World War pillbox, south side of Railway, Battlesbridge (EHER 20142)

A Second World War type 28A concrete anti tank gun emplacement on the west side of the A130 road where it crosses over the New Essex Railway.

Standing between the railway line and a field on its south side, is an FW3/28A artillery pillbox. It is constructed of concrete, has a Bren-gun chamber on its south side and was designed to accommodate a 2-pdr anti-tank gun. The anti-tank ditch of the GHQ line ran across the field from the pillbox at TQ 7712 9429 to the Railway Barrier 70/80 yards north-east of this artillery pillbox, which was built to cover the railway crossing. <1> <2> Two photos of site. <3> NRHE data transfer: Type 28A anti tank gun emplacement. The roof is a large concrete slab with sloping edges. Along bottom lip of the embrasures set centrally is a shallow recess and two elongated rectangular recesses, one to the right and one to the left of the opening at ground level. Internally, the main gun embrasure takes up at least half the wall space. Emplacement is divided in two by internal wall. Small chamber has embrasures, large chamber one large embrasure for field gun and a small. Battlesbridge. <4>