Monument Number 1541090 |
Hob Uid: 1541090 | |
Location : East Sussex Eastbourne Non Civil Parish
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Grid Ref : TV6195909927 |
Summary : A Second World War defensive road block is visible on vertical aerial photographs of 1940 as a solid structure adjacent to the Metropole, which occupies numbers 1-4 Royal Parade, Eastbourne. The road block had been removed by the time of vertical aerial photographs of 1944. This feature has been mapped from aerial photographs as part of the South East RCZAS NMP project. |
More information : The Second World War road block is centred at TV 6196 9928, between the Metropole and a triangular grass verge. The Metropole occupies numbers 1-4 Royal Parade. The road block measures approximately 12m wide by 2m deep. It appears to consist of three large rectangular blocks which form an irregular barricade across the road. Butler (2007:66) suggests that these were in fact beach huts which had been laid on their sides and filled with pebbles. Similar road blocks existed along the length of the Eastbourne seafront, and would have been intended to hinder enemy progress in the event of invasion.
By the time of the vertical aerial photograph of 1944, the road block had been removed along with all the others along the seafront at Eastbourne. This seems to have coincided with the installation of anti-invasion scaffolding at the northern end of the Eastbourne seafront. It may have been decided that the presence of the scaffolding rendered the road blocks obsolete (1-3). |