Outside the main wartime defence line around southern Colchester, small pillboxes covered the approach roads. This pillbox is one of these latter fortifications. It stands 70 yards to the W of the road which skirts Roman Way Camp, in a hedgeline. It appears as a typical Type FW3/22, hexagonal, 12' 6" across with 7' 3" walls. The construction is of concrete (15" thick) with its entrance on the NE face. The loopholes are 12" square with steel side pieces. Beneath the undergrowth, the entrance appears to have been sealed up, as have most of the loopholes.<1> Three photos of site.<2>

SITE ASSESSMENT: At the time of compiling this record, this is one of only two (see SMR 20552/MCC5037) surviving "outer defence" pillboxes which guarded the approach roads into Colchester. Although not nationally a rare type it is locally an important part of the Borough's heritage and every effort should be made to ensure its continued survival.

In 1940, the songwriter Ross Parker, then in his mid-twenties, was stationed at Roman Way Camp. The previous year, together with Hughie Williams he had written "We'll Meet Again", which was to become a wartime favourite, sung by Vera Lynn. Now he was in the throes of composing a new song, one which was, like his previous hit, particularly redolent of the times. It was "There'll Always be an England". Unable in the noisy barracks to find the peace and quiet he needed to continue his work, he regularly retired to the one place he could be alone - the local pillbox. There is every chance this very pillbox still survives. All the wartime defence sites in the area have now been recorded and the three most likely candidates still exist, all close to the barracks. SMRs 20546/MCC4968, 20547/MCC4969, 20548/MCC4970. It would be a fitting tribute to both the composer and to Colchester's World War Two heritage if a "There'll Always be an England" plaque could be erected at one of these three sites.

See also <3> & <4>.