Summary

Road Barrier (destroyed)

Full description

During World War the roundabout at the junction of Princes Road, Wood Street, Widford Road and London Road, was completely sealed off by concrete and steel road barriers and anti-tank obstacles. The junction was then known as the Widford Roundabout, a name which appears to have transferred itself to one of the two “new” roundabouts west of the railway line, when the original was demolished to make way for the Miami Roundabout which was built 100 yards to the east. When this happened, Moulsham Street and Wood Street were re-routed to join the new, much-large Miami Roundabout. Widford Road was extended to join up with the original path of the new by-passed stretch of Wood Street at its northern end. Thus, all the wartime defence sites which once encircled the Widford Roundabout now lie to the west of the Miami Roundabout.

This road barrier crossed Princes Road immediately to the E of the Widford Roundabout. Its path can be seen on an aerial photograph taken in June 1946 as four lines of dark dots on the pale surface of the roadway. These would have been steel sockets embedded in the road to take upright lengths of railway line. North and south of the road barrier, anti-tank pimples can be clearly seen continuing the defences around the roundabout. <1>

In the 2005 landscape, the Princes Road barrier crossed where the traffic island west of the Miami Roundabout now stands.

<1> RAF, 1946, 106G-UK 1565-4416, June 1946 (AP). SEX65517.

Monument Types

• ROAD BARRIER (WWII, Modern - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)

Associated Events

• Visit by Fred Nash - Mar 2005 (Ref: Nash CHL Mar 2005)

Protected Status

• Historic Environment Character Zone: Chelmsford 2.6
• Historic Environment Character Area: Chelmsford 2

Sources and further reading

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