Key facts
- Constructed by `Burbridge builders` of East Horsley, Surrey
- Pre-fabricated design constructed to meet available materials
- Built from a standard 4 feet diameter concrete pipe
- Rotating concrete turret located on top of pipe
- Accommodated 2 riflemen or a bren gunner and no 2!
- Extremely cramped conditions!
- Sunk into ground at such locations as road junctions to give maximum protection and concealment with only 13 inches of the structure protruding above ground level
- Additionally it could be mounted on a vehicle or as an addition to a conventional pillbox.
Tett turrets at RAF Hornchurch, Essex
The former airfield at RAF Hornchurch in Essex boasts the largest concentration of surviving tett turrets in the country. This ultra rare form of one-man pillbox would have been extremely cramped and restrictive for the guy inside! Thankfully the surviving tett turrets at Hornchurch are in relatively good condition; the outer rims and gun embrasures are still intact.
One of the tett turrets was excavated by the BBC ‘Two Men in a Trench’ team, whose efforts exposed the original crawlway. A pair of WW2 goggles were found inside. As you can see from my photographs it has been hollowed out inside and now rests on bricks. The concrete pipe of a second tett turret nearby is completely full of earth.
The former airfield is accessible to everybody and has other surviving relics, namely four good-condition pillboxes, an anti-aircraft pit, aircraft dispersal bay and compass setting point, two in-tact E-Pens, air raid shelters and what may be some anti-glider cylinders.
By Julieanne Savage