Afton Pillbox

In preparation for and during World War II, the island went into full defensive mode because of its strategic location. If the Germans were planning an invasion, it seemed probable that they would want to seize it as soon as possible to establish a safe beachhead from which to start their lightning-fast blitzkrieg campaign.

The War Office anticipated this possibility, so it developed a number of defence systems and made preparations at key locations to slow down any advance forces in the event of an evasion. Among these measures was the strategic placement of several pillboxes around the Island.

The Afton Pillbox was a concrete structure with a polygonal hexagonal shape, facing south. It could have been used to fire light machine guns in any direction. In 2010, when we last saw it, it had been stripped of its leaves and stood proudly in the parking lot.

The surrounding vegetation was recently pruned in the last few years to reveal the pill box in all its former grandeur.

Each pillbox had its own style of construction, and details of which can been had in “Links and Sources Tabs”.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_hardened_field_defences_of_World_War_II

• http://www.pillbox-study-group.org.uk/copyright-information/
• https://www.iwhistory.org.uk/HER/0805pillboxes.htm#MIW2791