MORETON Town Council is launching a campaign to restore a Second World War pillbox in the London Road cemetery.

Cllr Josie Burford, chairman of the council's cemeteries committee, and fellow councillors have been clearing out the old pillbox which has been used as a dump for rubbish.

It is also overgrown with brambles and weeds.

The council has joined forces with Moreton Local History Society to research and restore the structure - one of a circle of seven pillboxes which formed a defensive perimeter against incoming attacks on the former RAF Moreton, the site now occupied by the Moreton Fire Service College.

The circular pillbox could accommodate five men and had slits for Bren light machine guns to fire at the enemy.

"The walls were 15 inches thick and are still substantially intact," said Cllr Burford. "We've been told by the history society that it is a rare survivor of defence plans put in place by Gen Sir Edmund Ironside, commander in chief of the home forces after Dunkirk in 1940.

"The council wants to restore it and councillors have been clearing out the rubbish, including an old fish tank, which has been dumped there."

Building work on the neighbouring Cotswold Business Park has helped reveal the pillbox structure, which stands by the war graves section of the cemetery.

Cllr Burford, who with husband Colin has visited war graves in France, said the restored pillbox could become a memorial to Moreton's war dead.

"They maintain war graves so beautifully in France and they have restored many structures, so it would be good to follow their example with the pillbox," she added.

Armed with the historical detail, the town council is approaching various bodies for help with fundraising to restore the pillbox, including repairing the roof and installing grilles over the gun slits.