Building record MRM 140 - World War II defences on the Swale (Mod)

A Level 2 survey of World War II structures on land known as The Swale was carried out in advance of proposed residential development on land adjacent to Adastral Park, Martlesham, Ipswich. The structures recorded comprise a Type-22 and Type-23 Pillbox, a Heated room, a Lewis gun-emplacement, a HFDF (High Frequency Direction Finder) Tower in an octagonal curtain wall, a Hut and two shafts. Most, if not all, are structures built for the 'Defence of Britain' from 1940 onwards. Together these buildings are a good example of a range of defence structures used in conjunction, there is also survival of camouflage paint on the type 23 pillbox and the contemporary graffiti in the type 22 pillbox (S1, S2, S3, S4).

Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2009 (S5).

Recording was undertaken of three structures that were part of the airfield’s defensive network: a Type-22 pillbox (sitting on a Bronze Age barrow mound and surrounded by revetment walls and a gun emplacement), a generator hut, and an octagonal structure that may have been a Type-27 pillbox design with a modified entrance and no roof, although an earlier building report describes it as a protective structure for a radar tower. The three buildings were in various states of repair, although the Type-22 was the best preserved and still contained wartime and graffiti.
Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2011 (S6).