About the Area
I was walking in the woods, taking my lovely fiancée for a look around The Grove, when I happened upon this structure. Almost immediately, I was taken back to my youth, back to when my parents had an allotment plot nearby, and my sister and I used to amuse ourselves by exploring the area, including this fascinating object… a pill box! Well, it was far more interesting than planting carrots 
. The pill box is still there, and is now almost completely concealed by ivy.
As soon as I saw it, I thought to myself: I have just *got* to add another cache to my Felixstowe Nostalgia series!
The house where I used to live on Links Avenue looks out over the old golf course (hence the name of the road) towards The Grove. In the fields we could still see some of the old bunkers, plus a square concrete structure – a pill box. To a growing lad who enjoyed all manner of adventures, the lure of the pill box as a place to explore was really very strong, and so my friends and I would sometimes nip out of my garden and go and play all manner of games in, around (and sometimes on) the pill box. This, of course, got us into quite a bit of trouble with the lady who looked after the horses who lived and played in the field – we were (much to my eternal shame now) trespassing!
About Pill Boxes
These concrete structures were built during the Second World War as part of the UK fortified defences. Should an invasion occur, these pill boxes would be manned with gunners who would fight back the invading forces. A number of small gaps in the walls (known as loopholes) would give enough space for a rifle to poke out of and have a good 90° sweep, and present a limited aperture for returning fire. The entrance to these boxes were always protected by an anti aircraft wall.
The type in the woods I believe is a Type 22 pill box, recognisable because of its hexagonal shape. Unfortunately all the loopholes plus the entrance has been cemented up, but you should be able to at least see where these were. The type 22 is the second most common pill box in the country (over 1,300 still standing in the UK), but as far as I am aware this is the only one of its type in Felixstowe (cachers, feel free to correct me!)
The pill box I could see from my parent’s back garden is also visible from the access road to the Grove car park. If you go up by the new pharmacy (is that classed as a “pill box” too?) and look across the gate to the horses field (no entry remember – that is private property!) you can see that pill box. That is (I believe) a Suffolk Square pill box; as the name suggests, you’ll only see these in Suffolk. Not that many of these still exist; only 37 remain extant.
There is another Suffolk Square in Felixstowe, and this one is accessible. It is right next to A Perfectly ‘Armless Post http://coord.info/GC4KMXG. The last time I checked you could go inside. Although given that it is used to store horse manure, and a number of people leave litter in there, you may want to consider whether or not it really is worth a look at the interior!
Let’s not forget Felixstowe’s coastal defences too: if you go to Languard Point, you can see (in addition to Languard Fort) many other types of fortified defences, including one of several Martello Towers that stand watch over the North Sea.
For more information about pill boxes, do check out the Wikipedia entry (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_hardened_field_defences_of_World_War_II) or search online for the many other pages about pill boxes both in Suffolk and around the rest of the UK.
The Pillbox Series - This is a series of caches set next to Pill boxes, gun emplacements and other historic military defences. If you wish to add to the series please contact the Somerset Smurfs for a number here; just fill out the request form and Somerset Smurfs will do the rest.
This will keep track of the Pillbox numbers and names to avoid duplication.
The Pillbox Study Group website is full of information click here.
On the Pillbox Study Group site click links and downloads for a Google Earth Overlay of the Extended Defence of Britain Database which shows every location on Google Earth.
There is also a Bookmark list.
Congratulations to coconurtaler for getting First to Find!