Description

The monument comprises the remains a well-preserved pill box situated behind the dune system stretching from the Rattray Head lighthouse shore station to the south, part of a larger defensive anti-tank stop line of 14 intervisible pill boxes and associated defences erected during World War II to protect against landings on the beach south of Rattray Head.

The pill box. which is a type 24, is situated in an area of relatively flat land behind the rear slope of the dune system. This pill box has been built midway up a slope to minimise its silhoutte. However, the topography means this it is not intervisible with the pill box to its S, although the pill box to its N is. The pill box sits behind an anti-tank ditch which is now used as a modern drainage channel.

The area to be protected is limited to the pill box and a small zone around the outer surface of the walls. The area is circular with a diameter of 9m as shown in red on the attached map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The well-preserved pill box which forms this monument 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 an illustration 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.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

The monument is recorded by RCAHMS as NK15NW 1.10

The other pill boxes are scheduled as SM Nos 11307, 11308, 11309, 11310, 11312, 11313, 11314, 11315, 11316, 11317, 11318, 11319, 11320.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland