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Sands Of Forvie
Anti Tank Blocks (20th Century), Pillbox (20th Century)
Site Name Sands Of Forvie
Classification Anti Tank Blocks (20th Century), Pillbox (20th Century)
Canmore ID 88836
Site Number NK02SW 4
NGR NK 00810 24453
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/88836
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Slains
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Gordon
- Former County Aberdeenshire
NK02SW 4 0088 2445
'Pill box, partly covered with sand and tilted over slightly, stands at entrance to bay. A disjointed line of concrete anti-tank blocks run along beach to N, some barely showing through sand': visible on air photographs AAS/93/15/G30/25-27, flown 11 November 1993. Copies held by Grampian Regional Council SMR.
NMRS MS/712/6.
Field Visit (October 2022)
NK 00880 24450 A World War II pill box stands at entrance to bay. It is partly covered with sand and tilting over at an angle. A disjointed line of anti-tank blocks run along the edge of the beach northwards, some barely showing through the sand. The 4-inch naval guns of 942nd Defence Battery (Mobile), RA were also apparently positioned on the north bank of Newburgh Bar. A review of vulnerable beaches from April-Oct 1941 included Forvie, identified as being 'blocked with mines'. Mine clearance took place in 1944. Forvie Sands was also used to train the Gordon Highlanders and Highland Light Infantry in desert warfare, the soldiers training at Forvie being billeted at the Slains Lodge and buildings in Collieston.
Pill box mostly buried C. 100m seaward is a short line of tank cubes, oriented north south, across one of the channels of the Ythan. Lying on their sides and some fragmenting. In the same general area slightly seaward and east of the tank cubes are 3 short lines of posts. These look like anti glider posts. Seen and photographed from the Newburgh side.
Information from S. Boyd and J. Hambly - Scottish Coastal Archaeology and the Problem of Erosion (SCAPE)
