Description

The monument comprises the remains of a well-preserved pill box situated behind a dune system stretching from Rattray Head south. The pill box is part of a larger defensive anti-tank stop line of 14 intervisible pill boxes and associated defences built during World War II to protect against landings on the beach south of Rattray Head and against attacks on Rattray (Crimmond) Airfield. Only the pill boxes now remain.

The pill box looks down over an area of flat land behind the rear slope of the dune system. This pill box is unusual because it is not a type 24 pill box. Rather, it is disguised as the corner of a disused farm-steading with the reinforced concrete of the pill box clad in rubble masonry.

The area to be protected is limited to the pillbox itself and an area 2m across around the outer surface of the walls. The scheduled area is circular, with a diameter of 9m, as shown in red on the attached map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

This pill box is of national importance both as a part of a significant defensive line constructed along the Aberdeenshire coast during the Second World War, and as a unique illustration of one of the ways in which individual elements along that line could be adapted to the configuration of the terrain in which they were located. Its importance is accentuated by the extent of the line, which includes 14 pill boxes in total and the unusual nature of this specific pill box which has been built into an exisiting building to disguise its form.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

The monument is recorded by RCAHMS as NK05NE 17.02.

The other pill boxes are scheduled as SM Nos 11307, 11308, 11309, 11310, 11311, 11312, 11313, 11314, 11315, 11316, 11317, 11318, 11320.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland