Site of Second World War Pillbox, promenade, opposite Connaught Gardens East/ First Avenue, Clacton-on-Sea (EHER 21203)

Site of Second World War Pillbox, now destroyed.

WWII Defence of Clacton survey A plan of the wartime defences along the seafront at Clacton-on-Sea (see SMR 21178) shows a pillbox, annotated ‘J’, at the point where a breakwater joins the promenade. This position is directly opposite what was, at the time, Passmore Edwards House standing between Connaught Gardens East and First Avenue. <1> In July 1941 aerial photographs were taken of the seafront and at the junction of the breakwater and promenade is what appears to be an hexagonal structure, clearly the pillbox. <2> An OS map dated 1971 shows the promenade end of the breakwater as a half-hexagonal. This would have been the remains of the pillbox base after it had been cleared away at the end of the war. <3> The site was visited by Fred Nash, 2007 In January 2007, the entire stretch of the seawall has been reprofiled and nothing remains to be seen of the seafront pillboxes. <4>