Site of Second World War Anti-Tank Pimples/Road Barrier, Colne Road, Clacton-on-Sea (EHER 21220)

Site of Second World War Anti-Tank Pimples/Road Barrier, now destroyed.

WWII Defence of Clacton survey Although not mentioned in contemporary records, aerial photographs taken in July 1941 and a plan of the seafront defences drawn up in 1944 show very clearly a 5-row fixed anti-tank pimple barrier across Colne Road approx. 40 yards from its junction with Marine Parade East. <1> <2> <3> It ran from the Royal Hotel on the west side of Colne Road, across the roadway and up the driveway of what was Cordy’s Restaurant on the east corner, No. 3 Marine Parade East, perhaps 60 pimples in all. Visited in by F. Nash, April 2007 Visited by Fred Nash, 2007, both buildings still survive, the Royal Hotel now the Rocking Horse Bar and Cordy’s Restaurant as The Lighthouse. Very unusually, the “footprints” of some of the wartime anti-tank pimples can still be seen on both sides of the road. On the west side, in the surface of the forecourt alongside the Rocking Horse Bar are three concrete circles, approx. 3’6” across. These are the filled-in holes left when the pimples and their footings were lifted from the ground. On the east side, four more circles, less well defined but clearly identifiable, lead in a straight line up the driveway. Five photos of site. <4> One photo of site. <5> Visited in January 2008 There is a considerable amount of re-building work at the rear and side of the Rocking Horse Bar, with close-boarding enclosing the entire forecourt along Colne Road. It appears very likely that the imprint of the anti-tank pimples on this side of the road will shortly be gone. <6>