M3 Corridor Hazeley

Part two of this report into Hazeley and its surrounding areas yielded a large concentration of pillboxes in the are of Bannisters Copse, Stoken Lane just north of Dipley, Hazeley Heath and Hazeley Bottom.  The area lays in a natural dip in the land and some of the pillboxes offer a commanding position overlooking Creek Farm.  There is still one pillbox mapped which i never visited mainly due to it being in the rear on someone's garden but it's there for future reference.  The concentration in the area is amazing with seven pillboxes in this area alone.  These are connected to the line of defences that were detailed in the previous report.  This line of defences takes us to Church Crookham and connects through to Aldershot and Farnham.  Church  Cookham lies on the GHQ line - the most important of a number of fortified Stop Lines constructed as a part of the British Anti-Invasion preparations. This is one of the most heavily fortified sections of that line.

PILLBOX (TYPE FW3/24): S0011184  

On the lane from Mattingley to Hartley Wintney and Hazeley Bottom. 

Cycling down a dirt track until i came out onto terra firma at last on the junction of Stoken Lane, i placed the bike into the tree line and went looking for the first of the pillboxes along this lane.  Sat on the right of the road as you look towards Creek Farm, the area was again damp, dark and loaded with mossies.  The prevalence for Holly Bushes in this area meant i had to hack my way through to the field that the pillbox was sat against.  The embrasures faced out onto the road but the visibility in this area has long gone with the dense growth of trees and bushes.  

The embrasure facing towards the road.  As you can see from the gloom in there, not fun!!

Part of the shuttering has fallen away.

Initially fine with the cows in the fields - they are certainly nosy buggers and came wandering over to have a closer look at me.  I must be a cow magnet.  For a while, with me not wanting to scare them off - i hunkered up in the pillbox until the burping, farting beasts lost enough interest in me for me to get out and continue on my way.

PILLBOX (TYPE FW3/24): S0011180

Opposite Creek Farm. Type 24 pillbox; brick-shuttered - faces W. Pillbox - type 24. Waterlogged. X-shaped internal blast wall. Embrasure shutters in place. 

These pillboxes are posted up in the sequence that i visited them as i intended to double back on myself and eventually head back the way i came.  Therefore this pillbox is in the field up the lane from Creek Farm and is a part of the line of pillboxes that connect through from Hazeley Farm through to the weirs and Dipley Farm further south.  

If you look closely at the photograph below you will see slight indentations at the leading edge of the roof where cammo poles were originally on place.  

Even during the summer months there is still evidence of a tide mark on the inside of the pillbox.  As this is at the bottom of the field this must be a natural run off.  I must have got to it at low tide but it was still flooded out.

The 'Fletton' process was invented in Fletton, Peterborough in 1891.  Fletton bricks are made from Lower Oxford clays: this clay has certain qualities of stiffness which enables it to be stamped into the shape of a brick under hight pressure. The process uses clay straight from the ground and no added water.  The unfired bricks are therefore placed into kilns with no pre-drying, making it a faster and more effective way of producing bricks in vast quantities.  The relative cheapness of the whole process is at the expense of the external appearance of the brick, and its ability to withstand great external stresses. 

View overlooking the area of Creek Farm and the hedgerow where another pillbox sits in the field.

PILLBOX (TYPE FW3/24): S0006792

Opposite Creek Farm, S of 'Shoulder of Mutton', Hazeley. 

Sat in the brow of the field and affording a field of fire across to the approach road of Red Hill towards Hazeley.

X shaped AR wall.

A tantalizing shot (below) of the pillbox sat in the field and right on the hedge line of the lane. Despite a second visit to the area i still couldn't get to this one.  I will need to seek permission from the farmer. 

PILLBOX (TYPE FW3/24): S0011179

ANTI TANK CYLINDER: S0011177

On the riverside by the bridge at Dipley, nr. Mattingley. 

Driving down into Dipley itself, there were two pillboxes and the above Anti Tank Cylinders.  One of the Pillboxes was located in the car park of a disused or converted pub and being of small village mentality - as soon as i turned up i was challenged and asked what i was doing.  At first it was thought i was off for some illegal fishing!!.  Err no.  I only managed to get to the cylinders before darkness closed in and need to revisit for the pillbox sat further up in Dipley Mill and the first pillbox mentioned.  The area where the cylinders are located had been turned into a picturesque typical quaint village garden.  The lawns were excellently maintained and as you can see, the Cylinders were partially obscured by flowers.  The entrance into the garden was a tight squeeze though!