Cuckmere Haven’s One Man Pillbox Variants
Ngr TV520977 and 521977
Within the Seven Sisters country park there are two very small and easily missed miniature pillboxes, both are highly unusual and possibly one man defence posts.
.Sitting in the side of the east valley this small rectangular defence is partially covered by land slippage. The pillbox was constructed using concrete blocks and concrete shuttered using corrugated sheeting, internally it is very cramped and has a single corner loophole that cuts into two faces. It appears from its position [between the two main MG pillboxes] that it may have been an after thought and necessary to cover an area of dead ground that the variant MG pillboxes could not reach at maximum gun traverse.
This tiny one man pillbox was re discovered at Cuckmere by Alistair G Kerr early in 2009, he recalls playing in it back in the early 1960s when he went to school in Seaford. The dimensions internally are approximately 5 ft by 6 ft and entry was from the rear. Inside the single loophole are inscriptions throwing light on who constructed the defence in July 1940. From its position set into the bank forward of the Anti tank ditch it would have faced head on any landing on the shore and with provision for a Bren gun would have had a wide angle of fire across the beach.
