Second World War Machine-Gun Post No.1, Cockett Wick Farm (EHER 21260)

Machine-Gun post No.1, Southern edge of Field OS 839, Cockett Wick Farm.

War Time Contraventions 1968 St. Osyth contained a compound entry for a number of defence sites spread across four fields of Cockett Wick Farm. They read as follows: ‘(a) 2 brick M.G. posts E. boundary. O.S. No 850 – arable’, ‘(b) sandbagged weapon pit in ditch. Field N. of (a)’, ‘(c) 5 brick M.G. posts and weapon pit S. boundary. O.S. No. 849 – grass’ and ‘(d) 2 weapon pits, S. side. O.S. No 839 – arable’. <1> The recording of WWII sites in Essex encompasses those sites built of concrete, brick and steel – the ‘hard’ sites. Sandbagged positions are not, generally, recorded: (b) and (d) have not therefore been included. The parish boundary runs from north to south between the four fields, which lie as a square quartet, with Field Nos. 838 (N) and 850 (S) in Clacton and Field Nos. 839 (N) and 849 (S) in St. Osyth. The two machine-gun posts in Field No. 850 therefore lie within the boundary of Clacton-on-Sea. The five machine-gun posts, astonishingly extant along the hedgeline between Field Nos. 839 and 849, are in St. Osyth. The two Clacton machine-gun posts are covered by SMR Nos. 21256 – 21257. The five St. Osyth machine-gun posts are 21260 – 21264. The four fields lie on a high rise in the landscape looking down across terrain towards the coast. The positions were clearly designed as a strongpoint, sweeping the countryside with fire. The two machine-gun posts can be seen on a low-level aerial photograph taken in 1948. They stood just inside the east boundary of Field No. 850, about 30 yards apart, angled to present a corner to North, South, East and West. They were small, square, with earth piled on the roof as a camouflage, undoubtedly of the same design as the survivors. However, aerial photographs taken ion March 1955 show that they were gone by that time and subsequent photographs show the positions totally cleared and returned to agriculture. <2> <3> <4> <5> Visited in January 2008, Most of Field No. 850 is now a reservoir with the positions of the two machine-gun posts immediately alongside its East edge. The hedge itself has gone and the terrain up to the reservoir embankment, including the position of the machine-gun posts, is now open agricultural field. At the north side of this field the last remains of the posts lie in the grass, a few pieces of brickwork and broken concrete with rusted re-inforcement rodding. However, as stated above, the five machine-gun posts all still remain. They lie in a hedge immediately alongside, to the North of, an East-West track. They are all around 8’ square with 21” walls, an entrance on the north face and a single loophole facing south. They are built of brick with a concrete roof and floor and to give maximum protection they have been built into the south side of a ditch which parallels the track such that the loophole is at ground level within the hedge. Access through the entrance must, therefore, be made from the ditch. No.1, the westernmost, is on the corner where the track bends, very close to the farm buildings. The four sides appear to form more of a diamond shape than square. Although the external height has been measured, at the rear, at 6’, inside it is very low, no more than a crawlable 3’ 6”. The most significant feature is the extant Turnbull machine-gun mounting. This finely-surviving steel cradle could hold a variety of weapons. In this mini–pillbox it remains in particularly good condition, possibly the best so far recorded in Essex. Four photos of site. <6> Eight photos of site. <7> <8> SITE ASSESSMENT 2008: Surviving machine-gun posts are very rare. With over 2,000 WWII sites recorded in Essex at the time of compiling this report, these five are the sole survivors of this type of defensive structure. Each of them should be statutorily protected as Scheduled Monuments at the earliest opportunity. <8>