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Pillbox in Coxmoor Wood

Between Church Crookham and Dogmersfield the Basingstoke Canal is dotted with pill boxes, tank traps and various wartime defences. These were built by pioneer corps troops in the summer of 1940 before The Battle of Britain, as part of a defence line running from Margate to Bristol. The Basingstoke Canal formed a useful lowland link in a chain which for the most part used steep natural slopes to slow the progress of the expected invasion. This was a sensitive area close to Aldershot garrison and the airfield at Odiham.
The concrete slabs in the towpath south of Blacksmith’s Bridge are all that remain of where large oak posts were secured in to the path as obstacles to prevent amphibious vehicles crossing the canal. In the event of invasion they would have been strung with barbed wire to make crossing additionally harder. After the war the timber posts were cut off and now all that remains is the concrete bases.
The tank traps around Tundry Pond are remnants of the defences hurriedly installed in fear of invasion by Hitler’s army.

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