Just inside a wide field 15 yards from the E side of the railway line and seven yards from a pillbox (SMR 20031) are five anti-tank hairpins, lengths of railway line, bent, with each end concreted into the ground. They stand up to 4’4" high with a 5’9" spread, the total area of the site being approx. 12’ x 8’. These are documented in contemporary records, "A/T ditch and 5 angle irons. Grass field S of . O.S. No. 72. Mount Bures Hall Farm. Map ref. 353508." (Mil. Ed.) These hairpins would have stood at the S end of the anti-tank ditch which stretched northwards to Bures. The ditch, extant at that time, can be seen on an aerial photograph taken in 1946.<1><2>

Three photos of site.<3>

SITE ASSESSMENT: Anti-tank hairpins are rare survivors in Essex. These have the added distinction of being documented as complete, and in company with the concrete blocks (SMR 20028/MCC5149) and the pillbox (SMR 20031/MCC4806) this compound site contains three different defence types, each supporting the others.

See also <4> & <5>.