Whilst doing some research over the last couple of days, I came across these World War Two defences still in place in Chelmsford, Essex, and being relatively close, I decided to go and see them for myself.
They sit on Broomfield Road, right at the junction with Kings Road. Six concrete cones, positioned along the edge of what is now somebody’s front garden. You can view them easily from the pavement. There is a small information board fixed to the wall, but the objects themselves are the thing that draws your attention.
They are smaller than people expect.
Not dramatic. Not arranged like the long defensive lines you sometimes see in photographs. Just six quiet shapes at the roadside. If you did not know what you were looking at, you might not stop.
But once you do stop, the purpose becomes obvious.
These are World War Two anti-tank obstacles, often called dragon’s teeth, although technically closer to what were known as anti-tank pimples. They formed part of a movable roadblock across Broomfield Road. The cones prevented vehicles from bypassing the barrier via the verge, while a removable system of posts and rails would have closed the road itself when needed.
The road could stay open.
Then it could be shut quickly.
That was the idea.
Chelmsford was treated as a defended town in 1940. The River Chelmer to the north acted as a natural anti-tank line, and approach roads like this became controlled points where movement could be slowed and directed. Junctions mattered. Crossing routes mattered. Ordinary streets briefly carried strategic weight.
Standing there today, the contrast is what stays with me.
Traffic passing. Houses. A front garden.
And a reminder that this road was once expected to be closed against the possibility of invasion.
These six cones are small survivals, but they are still in their original position. That makes a difference. You are not looking at an example moved for display. You are looking at a decision made in 1940, still sitting where it was placed.
Another quiet fragment of the defensive Essex landscape, hiding in plain sight.
Richard Clements - The History Alchemist
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