Water company unearths roadblock obstacles
Posted: 25 February 2011 19:40
A story reported by the BBC recently described how work on replacing water pipelines in Seaford was delayed by the discovery of some WW2 concrete obstacles.
Due to computer problems, I'm a couple of weeks late with this short piece, but I've seen that my inbox has been buzzing with this story in my technical absence.
South East Water's discovery of what have been termed "tank traps" (I personally dislike the phrase) happened in early February, when a local resident told me of the finds that appeared to be cylindrical.
A further correspondent confirmed roadblock cylinders being excavated, and, it appears, broken in the process of removal. No evidence remains on site and so I expect they've been destroyed.
The photo at right is not of a recently-found cylinder, but one that has lain in the corner of a nearby car park for some years.
The only other remaining evidence of cylinders in the neighbourhood are a few in the grounds of the local sailing club and about 14 that were built into a garden wall, seen below.
So where were all these cylinders originally?
We have two roadblocks on this stretch of road with cylinders listed as part of their defences; one with 11 and the other with 12.
The former was on the bend in the road near where the Buckle Inn once stood while the latter was near where the cylinders were unearthed.
Out of these 23 cylinders, we know that three are at the sailing club, one in the public car park and 14 in the garden wall. This theoretically leaves five unaccounted for; how many were dug up is not known, but I'm confident they originated from these two roadblocks.
- Pete
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Cylinders
Reinforced concrete cylindrical obstacles with a shaft down the centre in which could be inserted a crowbar for manhandling, or a picket for barbed wire. Cylinders were 90cm high and 60cm wide and deployed in groups of three as a more effective alternative for buoys.
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Hibbs, Peter Water company unearths roadblock obstacles (2024) Available at: http://pillbox.org.uk/blog/216680/ Accessed: 16 April 2024
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