Building record MAB5063 - ROSEISLE FOREST

Remains of World War II coastal defence.

Remains of World War II coastal defence. A series of pill boxes and anti-tank blocks run round the bay. One block has 'GMR 1940' written in the concrete. A survey of the beach in August 1940 by Admiral Dreyer concluded that from Burghead to Findhorn there was 7 miles of beach suitable for landings. Anti-invasion measures included anti-aircraft stakes, triple Dannert wire rolls placed just below the High Water Mark (HWM), and anti-tank cubes just above HWM with pillboxes for machine guns (24) and anti-tank guns (34) at intervals along the beach. This beach was also used for training for the D-Day landings, and some of the 1940-1 structures may have been blown up for this purpose. The remains are now on the beach or intertidal zone, although in 1940 they appear to have been above the HWM. Three types of pillbox were used: seven truncated hexagons at the western end (see also NJ06SW0104), four rectangular machine gun pillboxes in the central section, and nine Type 24 in the east. The remains of three roadblocks through the cubes onto the beach remain. Between October 1940 and June 1941 this stretch of beach between Findhorn and Burghead was the responsibility of 200th Pioneer Company. Military records suggest that much of the bay may also have been covered with anti-glider poles, and a number of these are visible at low tides. Features were recorded during site visit as part of Moray Community Coastal Zone Assessment Survey (CCZAS) in June 2022. This noted that nothing was visible of the pillbox previously recorded sliding down the dunes at NJ 1038 6584. A fallen concrete anti-tank wall, part of the D-day landing rehearsals, was recorded at NJ0919264986.

BBC NEWS WEBSITE, , BBC NEWS WEBSITE, 06/06/15 (Bibliographic reference). SAB3784.

Author unknown, , PRESS & JOURNAL, 03/02/2009 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1416.

GUY, JA, 1992, WORLD WAR I & II DEFENCES, 3/12/92 (Bibliographic reference). SAB662.

FOX, S, 2012, DEFENDING BRITAIN'S BACK DOOR: AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF MORAYSHIRE'S SECOND WORLD WAR DEFENCE LANDSCAPE (Bibliographic reference). SAB2549.

BARCLAY, G, 2013, IF HITLER COMES. PREPARING FOR INVASION: SCOTLAND 1940, pp176-179 (Bibliographic reference). SAB3792.

SCAPE , 2023, COASTAL ZONE ASSESSMENT SURVEY MORAY: CULBIN TO CULLEN (Bibliographic reference). SAB4861.

Dec 3 1992 , GUY 4-3-12-92, GUY 4-3-12-92 (Ground Photograph). SAB31147.

Mar 14 2015 , AAS-GR-15-03-013 - 021, AAS-GR-15-03-013 - 021 (Ground Photograph). SAB30877.

Mar 18 2015 , AAS-GR-15-03-062 - 067, AAS-GR-15-03-062 - 067 (Ground Photograph). SAB34223.

May 6 2023 , AAS-GR-23-05-015 to 050, AAS-GR-23-05-015 to 050 (Ground Photograph). SAB36523.

Oct 21 1999 , GR/99/CT193/WW, 196/WW, GR/99/CT193/WW, 196/WW (Ground Photograph). SAB37016.

Oct 29 2003 , Untitled Source (Ground Photograph). SAB31774.

Record last edited

Mar 4 2025 11:47AM