Hell's Teeth (Seaford) Traditional Cache
vectis: This cache was supposed to be adopted before I emigrated but the adoptee never signed the adoption papers. Sorry but this means I have no choice but to archive it.
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A micro at one of the many World War 2 defences that are scattered throughout this valley.
Grab the cache and enjoy the beach at the same time.
It is estimated that more than 18,000 concrete pillboxes were constructed during World War Two across the UK together with hundreds of miles of defensive ditches and barbed wire. Not since the building of the 'Martello Towers' during Napoleonic times had Britain embarked on such an ambitious programme of home defence.
Today many of these constructions remain, cropping up in the most unlikely of places - with the majority of them to be found sitting forlornly along Britain's coastline. Often crumbling and overgrown, these relics present a vivid picture of Britain at at the beginning of World War Two.
There are many locations where you can find pillboxes and other defences; one such place is located between Brighton and Eastbourne on the A259 Eastbourne Road at Cuckmere Haven.
Now a popular beauty spot and part of the Seven Sisters Country Park, the Cuckmere Haven river valley was a key strategic location for the defence of British shores in World War Two.
Prior to 1940 the area had been extensively surveyed and photographed by Luftwaffe air reconnaissance as a landing area for Hitler’s proposed invasion of England.
If the invasion had gone ahead Cuckmere Haven would have been at the forefront of a German assault. The plan was to sweep up the valley before swinging west to link up with attacking forces landing and parachuting into the Brighton area.
Even when the Battle of Britain had averted this very real threat the area remained heavily fortified with a string of pillboxes sited on either side of the valley. Anti-tank traps and ditches were placed at key access points while the lowland flood plain of the River Cuckmere and the river itself was heavily mined.
During the early part of the war, an extensive network of lights was laid out within the valley. Their purpose was to give German bomber crews the illusion they were over the port of Newhaven, thus protecting the port facilities and drawing them off course for the targets further north.
Later on during the war, an area further inland was developed as an RAF airfield.
A visit to this pleasant area today offers much evidence of its former role and importance. A series of pillboxes, strung along the eastern slope of the valley, can be seen and explored.
Moving towards the beach on the eastern side of the valley, you will encounter the first of the remains of an interlinked cluster of pillboxes and gun emplacements.
During 1940 the thinking about anti-invasion defences shifted as military commanders moved towards regarding defences such as those at Cuckmere Haven as holding places or ‘redoubts.’
In the event of invasion the Home Guard or infantry manning these pillboxes and emplacements would have been expected, to use the parlance of the time, ‘to give the enemy a bloody nose’. The idea was that by delaying them it would enable mobile infantry to form up further inland, possibly at a pre-arranged defence line or ‘stop line’, for a decisive pitched battle.
Close to the beach beyond the salt marshes and birds' nesting area, is an anti tank device of the time. Running at a right angle from the both banks of the River Cuckmere are the remains of concrete tank traps or ‘dragon’s teeth’. A series of pillars designed to stop tracked vehicles.
Looking at these forlorn and overgrown concrete pillars now it is hard to gauge how effective they and indeed the other defences at Cuckmere would have been. Yet they remain as potent reminders of what people in Britain were preparing for 65 years ago.
Thankfully never put to the test, today they are overgrown and weathered - happily blending into the landscape and peacefully succumbing to nature and the ravages of time.
FTF LostInTheWoods
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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