Creech to Ruishton Trail
This is the second cache of the Creech St. Michael to Ruishton Trail. The walk is ~20 minutes and is made up of three small caches however it is possible to place small items/trackables inside.
Did you know?
Can you see the world war two anti-invasion concrete structure (pill box)? You can climb the wall and look inside!
History
In the immediate area there are second world war defences comprising of five pillboxes, a rail block and anti-tank tetrahedra, erected 1940-41, and forming part of the Taunton Stop Line. The Second World War anti-invasion defences to the south of Creech St Michael, which were erected in 1940-41 and formed part of the Taunton Stop Line, are listed at Grade II.
Following the withdrawal of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk in May and June 1940 there was an urgent need to strengthen the country’s anti-invasion defences which resulted in the construction of stop lines to provide a series of anti-tank obstacles which could be used to hold up the enemy, slowing progress and restricting the route of an attack.
Work on the Taunton Stop Line, a continuous anti-tank obstacle from Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset to Seaton in Devon, was carried out between July and November 1940 in response to the threat of a German invasion. Its purpose was to delay any advancing enemy armoured vehicles should they land to the west or south. The Stop Line followed the course of pre-existing barriers such as canals, rivers and railways along much of its length and was built by private contractors and army personnel. The defences included over 300 pillboxes, medium machine gun and anti-tank emplacements, road and rail blocks, infantry trenches and anti-tank ditches. From the autumn of 1940, anti-tank islands (all-round defences) were established at twelve locations along the Stop Line, of which nine were in Somerset, including Creech St Michael. Here the Stop Line joined and followed the line of the disused Chard Canal (closed 1868) as far as Ilton to the south-east before then following the Great Western Railway. A number of defensive structures survive around Creech St Michael, and to the south of the village are a group of pillboxes, anti-tank cubes, and a rail block. These are concentrated along the line of the former canal where it crossed the road between Creech St Michael and Ruishton and ran parallel with the Taunton and Chard branch of the Bristol and Exeter (later the Great Western) Railway which closed in 1964 and they form a coherent group of structures.