THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.

THE MYSTERY OF THE NEARBY TIN CASTLES

Grid references: Defence Bunker (1) TQ113 119:

                             Defence Bunker (2) TQ107 117:

                             and Training Pillbox TQ109 114

                       Copyright Valerie Martin 2010

This is the story of how the Mystery of theTin Castles unfolded in February 2010 and concluded with my own visit to the site in July later that year. 

This particular puzzle started with an email from Alastair Cook......

"I'm a former pupil of Windlesham House School (I left around 1998), and I found your excellent site whilst trying to find some information on a pillbox I used to play in when I was younger.

Whist at Windlesham we found a weird looking iron\concrete construction on what I now know is the South Downs Way or Highden Hill.

Needless to say, we found this fascinating and great fun to play in at 11 and 12 years old, nicknaming it the Tin Castle. I recently returned to the location, and even today I find it very interesting as it's such an unusual design with metal plates over it. The location was well out of school bounds, so we had to keep our trips to it very quiet. I guess the secret's out now though (sorry Mr Charles).

     click on images to enlarge

Keep up the good work, and I’ve included a couple of recent photos of the pillbox

Regards, Alastair Cook".

Obviously I found all of this very intriguing and asked on my Feedback page if anyone had information on the Tin Castle area to the west of the A24 on the South Downs Way.

Alastair followed up with an aerial plan of the area where there are two pillboxes on Highden Hill with two black circles indicating two out of the three.

I immediately included some of my own little additions (white names tags) on Alastair's map for easier identification of the area for you surfers!

Alastair sent more photographs..... "These are of the first pillbox, the one that is in tact and you can go in".

.    click to enlarge Alastair's images

He added, "There’s a big crater hole in in the roof (target practise maybe?)

The above photographs are of the collapsed one further along the path in the field. Note the 2 holes in the roof, they look suspiciously round and could be from a shell or gun maybe?"

I have gleaned that the Canadian Armed Forces arrived in Sussex by late 1940 and early 1941.  By 1942, Windlesham House just north of Findon on the A24, was taken over by the Royal Canadian School of Infantry and was the Headquarters of the Department of Petroleum Warfare.    

The Canadian engineers built two experimental defence bunkers (or had them built for them) on the downland.   I will call them Defence Bunker (1) and Defence Bunker (2) for identification purposes.  

They appear to have been constructed of concrete breeze blocks cemented together.   The outer of these blocks steel plates were subsequently ingeniously bolted to leave a
2 in. gap to be filled with bitumen.    Chunks of the material are now laying on the ground.  It is known that the Canadian engineers tested various forms methods of construction and perhaps this was an experimental method of protection against a dreaded German invasion........ and they were trying it out in this area.

Defence Bunker (2) has suffered more from the ravages of time and much of the cladding has come off and a portion of the roof has caved in.    

In July 2010 I eventually found time to go hunting for the Tin Castles myself and here are the photographs to prove it...   

  Click on all images to enlarge

I wonder if any soldiers did sunbathing up on the top to while away the time?

A good vantage point to watch for the rumbling approach of German tanks!

This is the entrance to Defence Bunker (1).... rather narrow-gutted..... "Guys must have been much slimmer in those days than they are today!    Phew!   Pongs a bit round here!" echo Suzie and Katie.

Showing construction of the old fabric.

  Suzie says.... "I can't see any Germans.... let me get at 'em".

Continue if you would like o read Findon Cricket and the Canadians

THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created by Valerie Martin exclusively for documenting life around Findon.