Tyne and Wear HER(5851): Usworth, WW2 Roadblock - Details
5851
Sunderland
Usworth, WW2 Roadblock
Usworth
NZ35NW
Defence
Defence Obstruction
Road Block
Modern
C20
Documentary Evidence
Site of WW2 concrete roadblock. Near RAF Usworth (HER 1824). Stop-lines included permanent and moveable road barriers. The most substantial works were formed from square or cylindrical concrete blocks entwined with barbed wire and fitted with explosives. Moveable obstacles consisted of horizontal or vertical bars or poles of steel, set between concrete blocks. Bent steel girders could also be slotted into sockets cut into the road surface. Modern road improvements are removing evidence for both, but some of the original blocks or aperatures have been observed in-situ. Cylindrical blocks have been used to line private roads or placed on river banks to combat erosion {Defence of Britain Handbook 1995}.
3300
5840
NZ33005840
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