The Clot throws up another undocumented piece of Civil War archaeology

Sometimes as an amateur historian you just get lucky. It's happened to me a few times but occasionally you get the shock of your life when a landscape you are familiar with suddenly throws up some signs of something lurking in the undergrowth that hasn't jumped out at you before. I'd been taking a walk around the Clot De Galvany, more exercise than anything else, and was leaning on the railings on the photo point for the bird spotters overlooking the lake. It's a beautifully tranquil spot and there wasn't a soul in sight other than some wildlife out on the water. As I scanned the surroundings I noticed a glimpse of curved wall that needed checking out. Much of this area was terraced with local rocks by farmers many years ago to conserve water, it's a familiar sight but this was something different. I clambered down the hill and was knocked out to find the partly collapsed remains of a machine gun nest with the rusting anchors of the gun mount still visible. Another one I've not seen documented elsewhere. I was chuffed to bits to log it and photograph it before heading off for some cold beers to celebrate.

A return visit to an old friend

I sometimes get asked what is the closest piece of Civil War archaeology we can take a look at if we are in Gran Alacant and pushed for time, or don't want to spend hours clambering over rough ground and mountains trying to locate something that may not be there. Well, if you enter the Clot De Galvany at the Carabassi end and then take the first left turning on the track after a couple of hundred yards you will come across the splendid, camouflaged bunker in the first picture. It's a belter and I hadn't dropped by for a while and was pleased to see it is still in fine condition. Just in front of it there is a concrete trench installation that would have guarded the old main road now replaced by the sprawling urbanisation of lower GA. The trench is a bit overgrown not but apart from the obligatory graffiti remains in excellent condition with it's thick, buttressed walls and you can still see one of the old machine gun mounting positions. A remarkable survivor more than eighty years on.

A bust of the heroic Archibald Dickson is added to the memorial at the Alicante port

I'd been well pleased to hear that a beautifully sculpted bust of Archibald Dickson had been added to the Civil War memorial by the port side in Alicante and it looked fantastic in the sunshine when I stopped off on a gorgeous September day to take a look. Dickson was the skipper on the ship The Stanbrook which was the only vessel to break the nationalist blockade as up to 20,000 Republicans gathered to escape in the days and hours before Alicante finally fell to Franco and his Italian allies. At huge personal risk to both himself and his crew Dickson managed to cram over 2,600 evacuees onto his badly listing vessel. Due to some disastrous shenanigans in the final weeks of the Negrin Government, covered superbly in Paul Preston's book "The last days of the Spanish Republic", the Stanbrook was the last ship out of the port. Those left behind were herded to Los Almendros and then onto the San Isidro concentration camp to face torture, starvation and death. Dickson, a Welshman from Cardiff, has now been honored as the international hero he truly is.