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Summary

A small WW2 pillbox built into the apex of Woolpack Battery.

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 15434: POST-MEDIEVAL BREASTWORK, CURTAIN WALL AND ASSOCIATED DEFENSIVE STRUCTURES ON THE PERIPHERY OF THE GARRISON, ST MARY'S

Other References/Statuses

• Defence of Britain Project (1995-2003): 1911
• National Monuments Record: SV 80 NE 117
• National Monuments Record: SV 81 SE 496
• National Record of the Historic Environment to Historic Environment Records data transfer
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 1417981
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 1445298
• Primary Record No. (1985-2009): 7909.07

Monument Type(s):

• PILLBOX (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)

Full description

A small WW2 pillbox built into the apex of Woolpack Battery (7906.27) is recorded as St Mary's pillbox number 4 on the 1946 map (b1). When Johnson visited in 1990 he found the southern most gun platform of the C18 battery had been apparently altered with stones used to raise and reconstruct the angle to match the surrounding stonework and thus conceal the pillbox. Apertures face east, west and south (h1). The monument is included in the Schedule. The site has also been recorded as part of the Defence of Britain project as AH 551.

The Pillbox was described in 1995 (3): The rebuilding of the battery wall to accommodate the pillbox is visible where the `creamy-yellow granite of the pillbox meets the predominantly greyer granite of the battery. The pillbox which is pentagonal in plan (lozenge-shaped with a facet at the rear) is built of concrete blocks faced with the ashlar slabs. It rises to 0.7m to 1m above the outwardly chamfered tops of the battery. At the forward apex the flat concrete roof is 4m above the outside ground level; it measures 3m by 2.5m and 1.5m across the rear facet. Three outwardly splayed gun slits are provided to the sides and the front. Access is via a small doorway only 1.5m high in the rear wall and now closed by an iron grille door.

The Pillbox was descibed in 2005 (4): The pillbox is in a good condition. It occupies the full thickness of the battery¿s forward apex and was effectively concealed; the wall has clearly been refashioned because the wall facing - comprising very large rectangular granite blocks - is quite distinct from the smaller squared granite blocks which face the wall to the rear of the pillbox.

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Site history:
1: 1990. JOHNSON, ND/CAU
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Council for British Archaeology, 1995-2001, Defence of Britain Archive, 1911 (Website). SCO9052.

Council for British Archaeology, 1995-2001, Defence of Britain Paper Archive (Collection). SCO29989.

<1> OSBORNE, JP, 1990, SCILLONIAN WAR DIARY, 1939-1945, VOL 3, PILL BOX MAP (Unedited Source). SCO8939.

<2> ALWYN HARVEY, 1997 - 2001, DEFENCE OF BRITAIN PROJECT, AH551 (Cornwall Archive). SCO9017.

<3> Field Investigator's Comments, MPPA/Hooley, D. 1995. (Survey). SCO29739.

<4> Field Investigator's Comments, EH/Fletcher, M. 2005. (Survey). SCO29739.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• ECO3128 - Garrison Walls, Isles of Scilly, conservation plan
• ECO6310 - Defence of Britain Project
• ECO6309 - The Garrison, St. Mary's: Survey

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