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Pillbox dhp no.224 is a Second World War defensive structure located in Craigavon, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Built during the 1940s as part of Britain's extensive anti-invasion fortifications, this small concrete gun emplacement represents the civilian and military preparedness of the period. The pillbox would have housed a small garrison equipped with a light machine gun or anti-tank rifle, designed to command local approaches and roads against potential German attack.
The site sits on Palaeogene extrusive bedrock comprising mafic lava and tuff, volcanic rocks that underlie much of the Craigavon area. This geological foundation provided a stable base for the pillbox's concrete construction, though the builders would have worked around the irregular ground conditions typical of volcanic terrain. The robust nature of the structure reflects contemporary military engineering standards for field fortifications.
Protected by the Historic Environment Division under reference 5330, this pillbox survives as tangible evidence of wartime defensive strategy across Northern Ireland. Hundreds of such structures were erected along potential invasion routes and around strategic installations. Though small in scale, pillboxes like this one preserve the memory of civilian and military mobilisation during the Second World War and form an important element of the province's twentieth-century heritage landscape.
Pillbox - dhp no.224 is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 5330. View the official record →
Pillbox dhp no.224 is a Second World War defensive structure located in Craigavon, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 5330.
Pillbox - dhp no.224 is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Ni. The official designation reference is 5330.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Lisbane. multivallate rath (7.2 km), Wwii pillbox - dhp no.42 (7.6 km), Pillbox - dhp no. 38 (7.8 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Pillbox - dhp no.224's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Pillbox - dhp no.224 stands on Unnamed Extrusive Rocks, Palaeogene, bedrock that formed in the Paleogene. The rock here is mafic lava and mafic tuff.