Site of Second World War Anti-Tank Pimples/Road Barrier, Lancaster Gardens West/Lancaster Gardens East, Clacton-on-Sea (EHER 21232)

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

WWII Defence of Clacton survey Contemporary records state, “15 concrete pimples, dannert wire and rails. ‘Floracliffe’, Lancaster Gardens. Front garden”, “Concrete pimples, dannert wire and trenches, Lancaster Gardens, strip of ground across gardens” and “Concrete pimples and dannert wiring. ‘Greystones’, Lancaster Gardens, front and back garden.” <1> ‘Floracliffe’ is thought to be what is now No. 3 on the west side of Lancaster Gardens West and ‘Greystones’ is thought to be what is now No. 6 on the east side of Lancaster Gardens East. An aerial photograph taken at low-level by the RAF in 1941 shows this as a single, very large, anti-tank pimple barrier. It was 5 rows deep and stretched from the front garden of ‘Floracliffe’, across Lancaster Gardens West, angled NE across the central garden area, crossed Lancaster Gardens East and finally abutted up to the front of ‘Greystones’. Thus both roads were “permanently” sealed. In all, around 175 pimples can still be counted. <2> Visited in 2006 by F. Nash Some of the pimple marks can still be seen on the surface of both roads. When they and their concrete footings were taken up after the war, the holes were filled in and this is subsiding (or standing proud) at a different rate to the surrounding road surface and several of the pimple “footprints” can be made out as circles of cracked or raised tarmac about 2’ 6” across. <3> One photo of pimple marks on Lancaster Gardens West. <4>