Stop Line Green
Following Dunkirk, in July 1940, a countrywide defence system was established. Stop Line Green was to act as Bristol’s outer defence, it ran for 91 miles with 319 pillboxes and 20 miles of ditches, making use of natural features such as rivers. Locally it followed a line from Lacock to Malmesbury and on to Tetbury. Gordon Williams covered key remains in the Malmesbury area.
Type 24 pillboxes were commonly used, they could hold 8 men with rifles and heavy machine guns. They had a protective blast wall at the entrance and a ricochet wall in the centre. The one shown here is brick-built and in reasonable condition although many are now overgrown.
Images G.Williams
There was a concentration of defences around Cowbridge, possibly due to Ekco. The remains of massive tank defences were still very prominent in the 1950s but were later used in the nearby weir.
The anti-tank ditch is still visible on Google earth if you know what you are looking for and is certainly on the recently published Lidar maps. It can be traced across fields north of Malmesbury, but only by seeking the landowner’s permission.
The remains are shown in the picture on the right.
As Gordon pointed out the history of concrete fortifications is as important as those of the Roman and Norman eras. The pillboxes were built 80 years ago. Will they last much longer?
Full details of all of Stop Line Green are available in the book “War Walks – Stop Line Green” by Major Green.