Scheduled Monument
Crail Airfield, pillbox 20m ENE of Lighthouse, Foreland HeadSM6461
Status: Designated
Documents
Where documents include maps, the use of this data is subject to terms and conditions (https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/termsandconditions).
The legal document available for download below constitutes the formal designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The additional details provided on this page are provided for information purposes only and do not form part of the designation. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within this additional information.
Summary
- Date Added
- 30/09/1996
- Last Date Amended
- 13/03/2019
- Supplementary Information Updated
- 22/12/2023
- Type
- 20th Century Military and Related: Pillbox
- Local Authority
- Fife
- Parish
- Crail
- NGR
- NO 63836 9761
- Coordinates
- 363836, 709761
Description
The monument comprises a pillbox of Second World War date located to the east of the lighthouse at Foreland Head, some 700m north east of Crail Airfield. The pillbox has stone walls, steel lintels, and a concrete roof into which stone was set for camouflage.
Crail Airfield and its associated defences is one of the best-preserved abandoned airfields in Scotland. Although the site was established in 1918, the surviving structures and runways date from the Second World War. The pillbox itself is well-preserved.
The scheduled area includes the pillbox and an area extending 1m in all directions, from the outside face of the pillbox, in which traces of associated activity may be expected to survive, as marked in red on the accompanying map.
Statement of National Importance
The monument is of national importance for its group value as part of the defences of the Crail Airfield complex. As such it is part of a complex which is probably the finest of its class in Scotland, and serves to illustrate in concrete form the intense effort which went into defensive construction during the earlier years of World War 2.
References
Bibliography
No Bibliography entries for this designation
About Scheduled Monuments
Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.
We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.
Scheduling is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for monuments and archaeological sites of national importance as set out in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
We schedule sites and monuments that are found to be of national importance using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)
Scheduled monument records provide an indication of the national importance of the
scheduled monument which has been identified by the description and map. The description and map (see ‘legal documents’ above) showing the scheduled area is the designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The statement of national importance and additional information provided are supplementary and provided for general information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within the statement of national importance or additional information. These records are not definitive historical or archaeological accounts or a complete description of the monument(s).
The format of scheduled monument records has changed over time. Earlier records will usually be brief. Some information will not have been recorded and the map will not be to current standards. Even if what is described and what is mapped has changed, the monument is still scheduled.
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