Contemporary records state, “Weapon Pit. Garden at rear of 4, Hillcrest, Abberton”. No. 4 Hillcrest Cottages is the southernmost of a pair of semi-detached cottages on the E side of Mersea Road. The term “weapon pit” appears many times in War Time Contraventions 1968 and it is not positively known to what it refers. Rifle position, machine-gun nest or anti-tank gun site are possibilities; perhaps it is a ubiquitous description encompassing a position where many types of weapon could be deployed. In the one confirmed site at Billericay, it was a mortar position.<1>

Here at Abberton it appears to have been a spigot mortar emplacement. It is recalled locally as a concrete pedestal with a stainless steel pin on the top – the exact description of such a site. It stood at the bottom of the garden behind No. 4 and was subsequently broken up. The broken concrete may still lie beneath the undergrowth here.<2>

From this position, the spigot mortar would have a good field of fire to cover the E approach along Fingringhoe Road towards the Abberton crossroads.

See also <3> & <4>.