Now a unique project in Hartlepool is seeking to promote this valuable aspect of our wartime heritage and get people on the move to better health at the same time.
Over the next 18 months, the ‘Step out in Time’ project will bid to put Hartlepool's pill boxes, bunkers and gun batteries on the map through storytelling events, colourful new leaflets and re-enactments.
The aim is to allow people to re-connect with the past, with older folk sharing their memories with youngsters, while also encouraging them to visit the sites on foot, linking with existing healthy walking schemes in the town.
"This is a timely project,” said Gary Green, site and monument records assistant with Tees Archaeology. “Only one of Hartlepool's war-time sites is listed and protected under the law. But their historic value is becoming more widely recognised as time marches on.”
“Together with gun emplacements like the Heugh Battery, it's a rich legacy, but one we need to respect and protect if it is to survive.”
Schools and other groups are to be invited to adopt some of the 50 or so pillboxes that survive in Hartlepool, along with other defensive relics like tank traps.
With their help, Tees Archaeology will then monitor their condition and cultivate a wider sense of ownership for these evocative relics of 20th century conflict.
"This is a fantastic opportunity to link healthy exercise with learning about Hartlepool's rich heritage and fits in very well with the council's aim to increase exercise opportunities in a wide variety of settings," added Andrew Pearson, Parks and Countryside Manager at Hartlepool Council.
Full-time project officer, Rachel Jackson, has been recruited to run and co-ordinate activities.
Community groups or schools wanting to become involved are also being urged to step forward by contacting Simon Blenkinsop at the Tees Forest, telephone 01642 680806, or email simon.blenkinsop@teesforest.org.uk or write to The Tees Forest, The Sporting Lodge, Low Lane, Thornaby, Stockton -on- Tees, TS17 9UW.
The Tees Forest, part of the North East Community Forests, and Hartlepool
Borough Council, secured a £48,300 ‘Your Heritage’ grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to run the ground-breaking green-themed heritage scheme.
