On the north side of Stansted Road, close to its junction with Mersea Road, stands an FW3/22 concrete pillbox. It measures 13 feet across, is 7 feet 6 inches high and its sides are 7 feet 3 inches long. The entrance is on the north face and the whole structure sits on a raft of concrete. The loopholes and the entrance have been sealed to prevent access. Three cut off steel pipes, coming out of the west loophole are not thought to be contemporary.

Although the entire edifice, in good condition, is now emplaced in a small rose bed surrounded by housing, aerial photographs taken in April 1946 and September 1947 show it to have then stood just north of a belt of trees in almost open farmland. Only the houses along Mersea Road immediately north of the pillbox were built at that time. This defence point was one of two pillboxes and an anti-tank ditch (see 20553/MCC4764) built in this area of Mersea Road as one of the outer defences of Colchester.<1><2>
The main defence line, with its own pillboxes, were across Mersea Road some 600 yards to the north.
Seven photos of site.<3>

SITE ASSESSMENT:
This pillbox, although not accessed internally (the entrance has been blocked up), is externally in good condition with no sign of vandalism or deterioration. It is a typical type FW3/22 and stands (at the time of writing) as one of only two surviving pillboxes (there were at least ten, but probably significantly more) which formed the outer defences of southern Colchester during World War Two (see 20547/MCC4970).

See also <4> & <5>

At some point, the pillbox has been painted by the local community; it was re-painted in 2020 (with a fox, blue tite and spitfire fighter on three sides).<6>