Friday, 1 May 2015

Book of the Month

It's about time I had another of these, and here's something I picked up at the local Co-Op store earlier in the week. They had one of those spinner things just inside the door, full of cheap local titles, you know the thing, 'Around here in old photographs', 'Ghost stories of this area', 'Orrible Crimes of the past', etc., and this one shone out at me.


Published back in 1988 by Terence Dalton of Lavenham, and written by a member of the Fortress Study Group, it covers the era from the first earthen 'bulwarks' thrown up to defend against the Armada in 1588 through to the pillboxes and machine-gun posts constructed to counter the threat of German invasion in the 1940s. Geographically it moves from the Wash down to the Thames and is extremely well illustrated with photographs, period art, and line drawings, while an appendix gives details of artillery sizes and ranges. Some of the smaller instalations would be ideal for our purposes.

I can see that I'll be studying this book avidly, and getting about the vicinity visiting some of the sites, "yes dear, we did come out for the sea air, but I just want to look at this old piece of concrete".  

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4 comments:

  1. Peter Douglas1 May 2015 at 06:38

    Good find Joppy! Enjoy.
    Cheers, PD

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  2. The Good Soldier Svjek1 May 2015 at 08:15

    I have dragged my wife around pre-historic stone circles and burial mounds in the past and am allowed one per holiday now , Tony

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    Replies
    1. joppy4 May 2015 at 04:14

      That's basically the arrangement we have now, on the other side it works with trawling round shops as well,

      Delete
  3. A J6 May 2015 at 09:16

    My grandfather commanded a mortar team as part of a beach defence outpost during WW2. I used to play in the relics as a kid. Some of the old pill boxes have gone now, lost to the sea or the restructuring of sea defences. Some years ago in the town of Great Yarmouth the old hospital was being demolished and an Elizabethan-era ravelin was discovered bricked up inside! It's all fascinating stuff.

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