Site of Second World War road barrier, London Road, Little Clacton (EHER 21248)

Now destroyed. The site of a Second World War road barrier.

WWII Defence of Clacton survey Contemporary wartime records list a number of entries at Little Clacton around the junction of London Road, St. Osyth Road, The Street and Holland Road. These all cover elements of road barriers and anti-tank obstacles, clearly intended to block this important junction against armoured attack. There are five entries in total, ‘Road Barrier. Holland Road. Map ref. 613369’, ‘Road Barrier (socket etc.). Church Corner, Little Clacton. Map ref. 613369,’ ‘Approx. 56 concrete pimples. The Vicarage, Little Clacton, Garden’, ‘3 concrete pimples. Front garden of semi-detached cottage, Church Gate, Little Clacton’ and ‘5 concrete pimples. Garden of House at Church Corner, Little Clacton’. <1> Analysis of these seemingly detailed entries has been surprisingly difficult. Aerial photographs from July 1946 show very little. <2> All of the houses mentioned, albeit somewhat vaguely, still remain. From wartime ownership records the ‘semi-detached cottage’ and the ‘House at Church Corner’ are now known to have been numbers 6 and 2 respectively. From these records it is possible to construct a likely pattern of the road barriers and anti-tank pimples. It is thought that there were two road barriers, one across London Road from No. 6 to the Vicarage and the other across Holland Road from ‘Cedars’ to an outhouse. Between and connecting these, a band of concrete pimples ran across the gardens of the Vicarage. However, one question remains. Why were there apparently pimples in the garden of No 2. Church Villas? The contemporary record states, ‘5 concrete pimples. Garden of House at Church Corner, Little Clacton.’ The owner of the house is given as Mrs A. Margerson which allows, through surviving directory records for 1947 and 1954, the number of the house to be identified. However, it is thought that the road barrier across London Road was anchored, not to No. 2, but to No. 6. It appears most probable that the entry is wrong. The 1946 aerial photographs show faint pimple marks (after they have been removed) outside both the adjoining homes of Nos. 5 and 6. It appears that the ownership quoted is that of the second house from the west end of the terrace (No. 2) rather than the second house from the E End (No.5). Without more evidence, this is the presented analysis broken down into three SMR records (SMRs 21248, 21249 and 21250). This record covers the road barrier across London Road. One of the records, ‘3 concrete pimples. Front garden of semi-detached cottage, Church Gate, Little Clacton’ has been identified as No. 6 Church Villas. The ownership of the house is given as G Taylor and the number can therefore be determined from surviving electoral registers. The 1946 aerial photograph shows what appears to be pimple soil marks in and immediately outside Nos. 5 and 6. The barrier would have crossed the road here to the garden of The Vicarage on the opposite corner. <2> The site was visited by Fred Nash in 2007. <3>