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Rattray Line, pill box 875m ENE of Old Rattray

A Scheduled Monument in Peterhead North and Rattray, Aberdeenshire

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Coordinates

Latitude: 57.6142 / 57°36'51"N

Longitude: -1.8415 / 1°50'29"W

OS Eastings: 409570

OS Northings: 858262

OS Grid: NK095582

Mapcode National: GBR P8TL.M0F

Mapcode Global: WHBPN.PW96

Entry Name: Rattray Line, pill box 875m ENE of Old Rattray

Scheduled Date: 9 May 2005

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Source ID: SM11317

Schedule Class: Cultural

Category: 20th Century Military and Related: Pillbox

Location: Crimond

County: Aberdeenshire

Electoral Ward: Peterhead North and Rattray

Traditional County: Aberdeenshire

Description

The monument comprises a well-preserved pill box situated behind a dune system stretching from Rattray Head to the south. The pill box is part of a larger defensive anti-tank stop line of 14 intervisible pill boxes and associated defences built during World War II to protect against landings on the beach south of Rattray Head. Only the pill boxes now remain.

The pill box is situated below the crest of a slope, looking down and covering an area of flat land behind the rear slope of the dune system. Its location, although elevated, ensures its silhoutte is minimised. It is a type 24 pill box with concrete firing shelves but without the usual internal ricochet wall.

The area to be protected is limited to the pillbox itself and a zone of 2m around the outer surface of the walls as shown in red on the attached map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The pill box which forms this monument is of national importance both as part of a significant defensive line constructed along the Aberdeenshire coast during the Second World War, and as a unique illustration of one of the ways in which individual elements along that line could be adapted to the configuration of the terrain in which they were located. Its importance is accentuated by the extent and completeness of the line, which includes 14 pill boxes in total.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

The monument is recorded by RCAHMS as NK05NE 17.02.

The other pill boxes are scheduled as SM Nos 11307, 11308, 11309, 11310, 11311, 11312, 11313, 11314, 11315, 11316, 11318, 11319, 11320.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Other nearby scheduled monuments

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