Blockhouse
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a2/Donjon_chateau_a_motte_saint_sylvain.jpg/170px-Donjon_chateau_a_motte_saint_sylvain.jpg)
A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions.[1] It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive strong point against any enemy that does not possess siege equipment or, in modern times, artillery, air force or cruise missiles. A fortification intended to resist these weapons is more likely to qualify as a fortress or a redoubt, or in modern times, be an underground bunker. However, a blockhouse may also refer to a room within a larger fortification, usually a battery or redoubt.
Etymology
The term blockhouse is of uncertain origin, perhaps related to Middle Dutch blokhus and 18th-century French blocus (blockade).[2]
In ancient Greece
Blockhouses existed in ancient Greece, for example the one near Mycenae.[3]
Early blockhouses in England
Early blockhouses were designed solely to protect a particular area by the use of artillery, and they had accommodation only for the short-term use of the garrison. The first known example is the
Coastal fortifications in Malta
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Tunnara_museum.jpeg/220px-Tunnara_museum.jpeg)
Blockhouses were an ubiquitous feature in
Many of the batteries consisted of a semi-circular or polygonal gun platform, with one or two blockhouses at the rear. The blockhouses usually had musketry loopholes, and in some cases were linked together by redans. Surviving batteries include Mistra Battery and Ferretti Battery, which both have two blockhouses, and Saint Mary's Battery and Saint Anthony's Battery, which have a single blockhouse.
Many of the redoubts consisted of a pentagonal platform with a rectangular blockhouse at the rear, although a few had semi-circular or rectangular platforms. Surviving redoubts with blockhouses include Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq Redoubt and Briconet Redoubt, both of which have a pentagonal plan. A few of the redoubts consisted of a single tower-like blockhouse without a platform, and were known as tour-reduits. Of the four tour-reduits that were built, only the Vendôme Tower survives today.[8]
Age of exploration
Originally blockhouses were often constructed as part of a large plan, to "block" access to vital points in the scheme. But from the
Blockhouses may be made of
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/af/FortYork-Blockhouse.jpg/220px-FortYork-Blockhouse.jpg)
Blockhouses were normally entered via a sturdy, barred door at ground level. Most blockhouses were roughly square in plan, but some of the more elaborate ones were hexagonal or octagonal, to provide better all-around fire. In some cases, blockhouses became the basis for complete forts, by building a palisade with the blockhouse at one corner, and possibly a second tower at the opposite corner. Many historical stone blockhouses have survived, and a few timber ones have been restored at historical sites. In New Zealand, the Cameron Blockhouse, near Whanganui, is one of the few blockhouses to survive from the New Zealand Wars.
Second Boer War
During the Second Boer War the British forces built a large number of fortifications in South Africa. Around 441 were solid masonry blockhouses,[12] many of which stand today. Different designs were used in the construction of these blockhouses, but most were either two or three story structures built using locally quarried stone.
However the vast scale of British strategy led the British to develop cheaper, double-skinned corrugated iron structures.[13] These could be prefabricated, delivered to site by armoured train, and then have locally sourced rocks or rubble packed inside the double skin to provide improved protection.
A circular design developed by Major Rice in February 1901 had good all round visibility, and the lack of corners did away with the need for a substructure. Failure due to wood rot and splintering when hit by bullets or shrapnel were eliminated. The steel door to the blockhouse was sheltered by another piece of corrugated iron. The Major Rice blockhouse could be erected in six hours by six trained men. With the change from square gabled roofs to a circular design, they were given the nickname "Pepperpot blockhouse".[13] With mass production the cost to build a blockhouse dropped down to £16, compared to several hundred pounds for masonry ones.
These blockhouses played a vital role in the protection of the railway lines and bridges that were key to the British military supply lines.[12]
Concrete blockhouses
During World War I and World War II, many types of blockhouses were built, when time allowed usually constructed of reinforced concrete. The major difference between a modern blockhouse and a bunker is that a bunker is constructed mostly below ground level while a blockhouse is constructed mostly above ground level.[14]
Some blockhouses like those constructed in England in 1940 were built
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/74/FlakturmLAugarten030323h.jpg/170px-FlakturmLAugarten030323h.jpg)
The
In Berlin and other cities during
In the guerrilla phase of the Irish Civil War (1922–1923), a network of blockhouses was constructed to protect the railways from guerrilla attacks.[citation needed]
Blockhouses and coordinated road systems were used in the
See also
- Battery tower
- Blockhouse No. 1, New York City
- Block House (Delaware)
- British hardened field defences of World War II - Pillbox
- Caponier
- Casemate
- Chartaque
- Chardak
- Fort King George in Darien, Georgia
- Fort Pitt Block House in Point State Park in Pittsburgh
- Martello tower
- Ostrog (fortress)
- Sangar (fortification)
Notes
- ^ Spiteri, Stephen C. (2010). "Illustrated Glossary of Terms used in Military Architecture". ARX Supplement. MilitaryArchitecture.com: 637. Archived from the original on 3 June 2017. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
- ^ "blockhouse (n.), blockade (n.)", Online Etymology Dictionary
- JSTOR 146534. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
- ^ "Definition of a Blockhouse". Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
- ^ "Blockhouse dates". Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
- ^ "Blockhouse general description". Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
- ^ Spiteri, Stephen C. (12 September 2014). "ARX – Hospitaller Coastal Batteries". MilitaryArchitecture.com. Archived from the original on 8 September 2018.
- ^ Spiteri, Stephen C. (10 April 2010). "18th Century Hospitaller Coastal Batteries". MilitaryArchitecture.com. Archived from the original on 20 June 2016.
- ISBN 978-0-660-10298-6.
- ISBN 978-0-89308-242-0.
- ISBN 978-0-486-25492-0.
- ^ a b Tomlinson, Richard. "Britain's Last Castles – Masonry Blockhouses of the South African War, 1899–1902". Military History Journal. 10 (6). The South African Military History Society. Retrieved 14 February 2009.
- ^ a b Hanslow, Mike. "Blockhouses of the Boer War". Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
- ^ For the difference between blockhouses and bunkers see Schneider & Kitchen 2002, p. 87, BACM Research 2009, p. 209, Davis 2007, p. 290
- ^ "A Review Of The Defence of Britain Project". Report. Archived from the original on 23 November 2007. Retrieved 30 May 2006.
- Spence, Jonathan. In Search of Modern China. p. 403.
References
- BACM Research (2009), Vietnam War After Action Reports, BACM Research, pp. 263
- Davis, Tracy C. (2007), Stages of emergency: Cold War nuclear civil defense (illustrated ed.), Duke University Press, p. 290, ISBN 978-0-8223-3970-0
- Schneider, Richard Harold; Kitchen, Ted (2002), Planning for crime prevention: a transatlantic perspective, RTPI library series, vol. 3 (illustrated ed.), Routledge, p. 87, ISBN 978-0-415-24136-6
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Pillbox Study Group
- Royal Engineers Museum: Blockhouses during the Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902)
- Berlin Air-raid Shelters, Flak Towers and Bunkers
- Pillboxes
- British World War 2 Fortifications
- The Fortress Study Group