Saddleworth Pill Boxes – Saddleworth
History
After much searching I have to say there is very little history or documentation of these pill boxes, both however are fairly unique. The first being dry-stone clad, bit like the terrace houses were on Coronation Street and has a commanding view over the A62 and Standedge Cutting. The second is 2 pill boxes which are connected by a single shaft and short passageways, again giving a superb view up the A635.
There’s not that much military history in Saddleworth apart from a few remnants of crashed planes high on the moors and the War Memorial built at Pots and Pans, located where it is so it is visible from all the 7 villages which make up Saddleworth.
The only other real exception being the Yanks! Not that they stayed here, the film with Richard Gere was filmed in Saddleworth and they celebrate this every year with fancy dress, toy jeeps and far too much Glen Miller. The pill boxes never made an appearance possibly due to them being too well camouflages for the Hollywood locations team to find, but I like to think they would be more suited to Dads Army.
My Visit
I have known about these for years, I usually drive past and catch them out the corner of my eye and think I must see what they’re like inside. The next time I drive past, catch them out the corner of my eye and think I must see what they look like inside. Today however I did stop, a new camera meant I wanted to have a play, but not anywhere too extreme so I could see how it worked.
Pill box number 1 lies adjacent to the A62 and has a fantastic view of the Standedge Cutting, this would have been the main route across the Pennines in the 1940’s. I have never seen another pill box which has been clad with a dry stone wall to blend in with the local scenery, but have found out there are a couple more in the UK.
There is a single entrance, the roof and floor are concrete and the walls fabricated from brick. Nothing of interest inside, but very little evidence of other visits and better still no vandalism.
The second pill box lies on the side of the A635, another major Trans-Pennine route at the time. This twin pill box is very well camouflaged, that well that I drove past it a couple of times and started to doubt that I’d even seen it before!
A single central shaft gains the short passages which lead to the main chambers, again these are a mixture of concrete and brick with local stone used for lintels.
Finally a few images of the arachnids which now call this pill box home, European cave spiders seen to have occupied every space in here, I think they’re great, plus they are one of the largest UK spiders.
Well that’s the Saddleworth Pill Boxes, another epic Sunday stroll, enjoyable and not bad venues to get to grips with my new camera.
Cheers,
TLR.
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