Council of British Archaeology
Defence of Britain database
The Defence of Britain database is the result of field visits and documentary work carried out between April 1995 and December 2001. Nearly 20,000 twentieth century military sites in the United Kingdom were recorded by some 600 volunteers.
The project focussed on anti-invasion defences (stop lines, area defence, roadblocks, beach and bridge defences etc). Other categories of sites (Anti-aircraft batteries, Bombing Decoys and Airfields) had already been systematically recorded by other bodies using aerial photography and desktop surveys. Sites of particular interest for the Defence of Britain survey included pillboxes, anti-tank obstacles, beach defences, components of former road- and railblocks, infantry fieldworks and spigot mortars, petroleum warfare features, obstructions against aircraft, and airfield defences.
The purpose of the Project was to record the 20th century militarised landscape of the United Kingdom, and to inform the responsible heritage agencies at both local and national level with a view to the future preservation of surviving structures.
The Defence of Britain Project was administered by the Council for British Archaeology and funded by the Department of National Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund.