Monument record 4059 - Pillbox at Ladder Stile

This is a well constructed type 24 pillbox at Ladder Stile. It was constructed in 1940 as part of Western Command’s ‘Stop Line’. There are six along the Macclesfield canal. Type 24 pillboxes were squat heavily constructed concrete buildings. They were irregular hexagons in shape with the back side being the longest and containing the door and an embrasure either side. The other sides all had an embrasure, which were small rectangular openings in walls used to allow soldiers defended in the pillbox to shoot out at, or observe the enemy. Unusually positioned some distance away from the canal and it faces west. The pillbox has two other features, it has stepped embrasures to allow greater firing angles without widening the opening, and there is also a rectangular central pillar. The pillbox is on the Western Command Tamworth to Manchester line which acted as a line across the country that, in the event of an invasion, would hold up enemy forces and allow the armed forces to move around behind the line, and concentrate forces on the enemy. This stop line used the Macclesfield canal as the major topological feature.