Paralleling the beach at West Mersea, some 30/40 yards out on the mudflats, is a long row of World War Two anti-invasion obstacles. Each consists of a short length, 3 to 4 feet, of railway line embedded in a large footing of concrete. The bottom of each of these stakes has a steel cross-piece for better anchorage in the concrete, the top of each has been cut off at an angle to present a sharpened point. There are c.22 obstacles in total stretching for c.100 yards. Over the years, the footings have all come adrift from the mud. They, with their steel stakes, have then fallen over such that in each case the bottom of the concrete base now faces the beach while the stake points out to sea.

In practice, these obstacles would have been laid by men working between the tides to erect a line of steel stakes to protect this part of the West Mersea shoreline. Any invasion would probably have come at high tide when the sharpened stakes would have waited hidden just below the water. Like similar German defences along the Normandy coast, they would have been intended to rip the bottom out of the invasion craft, or at least prevent them from having a straight-forward beach landing. It is possible that the line was once longer than now and that others have been removed.

One aerial photograph of the area taken in May 1985.<1> Two aerial photographs of the area taken in Oct/Nov 2000.<2><3> Five ground level photographs taken of the anti-invasion obstacles in Jan 2006.<4>

SITE ASSESSMENT:
This type of anti-invasion obstacle in the sea is now very rare and these are an important part of our World War Two heritage. No others are known to still exist in Essex. However, there is little doubt that they could present a danger to wind surfers, jet skiers and swimmers. A tall steel post with a warning triangle has been erected at each end of the line but there is no indication of what this means or the fact that a potentially dangerous obstacle lies hidden between the posts at high tide. It is strongly recommended that a more explanatory warning sign be erected on the beach, possibly combined with an information board on the World War Two heritage of Mersea.

See also <5> & <6>.