THREAD: clearing a heavily-overgrown pillbox somewhere in #swwSussex. An amazing day organised by @suspol_heritage with @UnseenSussex. A professional tree surgeon undertook the tree removal and minor landscaping. 1/7 
One tree stump was removed to prevent further growth that would affect the pillbox. The Bobcat also scraped back the ground surface to help open up the embrasures again. 2/7
We had cleaned the interior some weeks ago, but there was still plenty of mud, especially in the socket to hold the Bren tripod leg. Clearing these out allowed the Bren gun to be set up. 3/7
Archive documents stated that the pillbox was defending a roadblock. Sure enough, in the roadside ditch was a 'buttress' that marked the location of a series of 'hairpin' rails placed in sockets in the road surface to inhibit vehicles. 4/7
A very satisfying day - the pillbox has been completely uncovered and will allow proper recording that wasn't previously possible. Archive plans indicate this is an unusual design for #ww2Sussex. 5/7
I had the chance to test a long-held theory of mine, namely that the stairwell doubled as a weapons pit. It's the perfect depth to fire small arms from, but also with enough space to swing the arm back to throw a molotov cocktail or hand grenade towards the roadblock. 6/7
Opening up the embrasures allows more light and ventilation in; compare today's photo with my tweet of 6 months ago! 7/7
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