Now There’s Something...

....you don’t see every day on a canal stroll.
Our walk today found us on the Leeds/Liverpool canal again, walking from Parbold West towards Liverpool.
This Type 22 pillbox sits on the inaccessible side of the canal about a mile from the village.
I looked up some information about it:

“Lancashire has a coastline with flat beaches ideal for amphibious landings. Inland from the coast is the Lancashire plain, flat agricultural land which would be a good landing zone for paratroopers or for gliders and transport planes to crash land. To defend against this a defensive "Stop Line" was built. The Western Command Stop Line Number 14 extended from Wigan to Liverpool and was based around the Leeds Liverpool Canal. Stop Lines were based on anti-tank ditches and pill boxes. Their aim was to slow down the enemy's advance and to allow counter attack. Villages would be defended to become islands of resistance. The canal and its embankment would act as the anti-tank ditch. Concrete pill boxes and fortified buildings were placed at bridges and at points with good views over the fields below.”