Site of Second World War Road Barrier, ‘Queen’s Head’, St John’s Road, Great Clacton (EHER 21237)

Site of Second World War Road Barrier, now destroyed.

WWII Defence of Clacton survey Contemporary records state ‘Road Barrier (concrete blocks and sockets). Queens Head, outside. Map ref. 623346’ (Mil. Ed.) and ‘Defence post, dannert wire, 2, A.T. blocks. Queens Head Hotel, St. Osyth Road, Garden.’ <1> The Queen’s Head public house stands on the corner of St John’s Road and North Road at Great Clacton and this road barrier was one of three which sealed off this junction from attack. A wartime plan of Clacton, drawn by a surveyor of Clacton Urban District Council, shows the positions of these barriers and a low-level photograph taken in July 1948 shows the clear marks in the road where the anti-tank sockets had been taken up and the surface re-tarmacked. <2> <3> The site was visited in 2007 by Fred Nash. This barrier crossed St. John’s Road between the Queen’s Head on the north side and No. 21, now a restaurant, on the south side. The defence post, possibly a sand-bagged rifle emplacement, was apparently in the garden on the west side of the inn. <4>