The Defence of Worcestershire Project

Archaeology is not simply a study of the distant past. It can contribute to all periods where a study of the physical evidence is important. The latest sites on the County Sites and Monuments Record go up to 1985.

The County Archaeological Service of Worcestershire was a participant in the National 'Defence of Britain' project, coordinated by the Council for British Archaeology and supported by the Department of National Heritage. This was a seven year project to record and interpret the 20th century defences of Britain. During World War II the landscape of Britain was transformed by the construction of a huge variety of military installations including pillboxes, airfields, radar sites, supply bases, hospitals, prisoner of war camps, bombing decoys, coastal defences and many more.

Part of the No. 3 Madresfield Platoon of the 7th Worcestershire (Malvern ) Battalion HomeGuard, with their Smith Gun.

Today, such remains are a vital source of information and evidence about momentous episodes in Britain's history. Yet they are also under threat - from modern development, natural decay, coastal erosion and agriculture. In addition, over fifty years on from the end of the War, the ability to learn from those veterans who were involved in building the installations and who used them is also diminishing.

The Defence of Worcestershire project  has attempted to make a full record of these monuments as they survive today, backed up with documentary research, photographs and the memories of those involved.

The survey will then form an invaluable basis for the protection and preservation and display of a range of sites, and offer new insights into our more recent national history.

Defence of Worcestershire Project

The county of Worcestershire, on the west side of England and away from the coast, might at first glance, appear to have been in a quiet backwater of the war. Yet the Defence of Britain Project  revealed just how far the county was mobilised for total war, and how seriously the threat of invasion, from up the Bristol Channel or via Ireland, was taken.

Now that the formal Defence of Britain Project has concluded (2002), the work continues in Worcestershire as the Defence of Worcestershire Project organised by local volunteers,and supported by the Archaeological Service.

For much of the war, the region was turned into a huge supply base. There were ammunition stores, military camps, armaments factories, airfields and army hospitals. These were protected by anti-aircraft batteries and searchlight sites. These were also intended to protect the heart of British military industry in the Midlands.

Of particular significance were the research establishments. A great deal of the research into radar was undertaken at Malvern. There were also wireless listening stations. The German rocket attacks on Britain were delayed by the work of a Malvern listening post in recognising that German radar had been diverted to the new rocket base at Peenemunde on the Baltic. This was then bombed by the RAF.



This hut at Guarlford, Malvern housed the listening post that identified the rocket base at Peenemunde.

A series of defence works were built during the threat of invasion in 1940. The rivers Severn, Avon and Teme became 'stop lines' with crossing points defended by pillboxes, gun emplacements, road blocks and trench lines. Worcester, Kidderminster and Redditch were destined to be 'anti-tank islands' to act as centrepieces of resistance. The local Home Guard would have played an important role in these defences.The aim was to slow up an advancing army so that the regular army could regroup. Special sections of the Home Guard - the 'Auxiliaries' - were also organised to form a secret resistance force. If called upon, they were prepared to leave their families and fight a desperate guerrilla war against the invaders. A number of their hidden bunkers still exist.

Types of 1940 Anti-Invasion defences in Worcestershire

Anti-Tank cylinders. Produced in huge numbers to form road blocks. Click Here	Removable roadblocks on bridges
Blacker Bombard mounts (Spigot Mortars) Click Here
Pillboxes. One of the most easily recognisable type of anti-invasion defences. Click Here	Loopholed Walls Click Here
6lb Gun Emplacements. Similar to the pillboxes but designed to mount heavier guns. Click Here	Auxiliary Hides Click Here

For further information on the Defence of Worcestershire project contact 01905 855494 or e-mail the Historic Environment Record Manager.