Author

Geoffrey Hartfield

Geoffrey served as a regular army officer for twenty-three years before retiring to teach military history at sixth-form level for another decade. Since proper retirement he has been documenting the surviving Second World War defensive structures of Somerset and the broader West Country, including the pillboxes of the Taunton Stop Line and various ancillary works that shaped the region's coastal and inland defences. The writing is editorial in tone and historical in substance. The intent is honest engagement with a particular kind of vernacular military heritage that mainstream history writing has rarely treated with the seriousness it deserves.

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Taunton Stop Line

On Walking the Taunton Stop Line: What Eighty-Five Years Have Done to a Defensive Position

The Taunton Stop Line is now eighty-five years old. The pillboxes and ancillary works survive in varying states across Somerset. Walking the…

Geoffrey Hartfield May 9, 2026 8 min read