This week, I went to see a line of concrete blocks across a small valley leading up from Studland beach in SE Dorset. They have been cleared of scrub and are now on clear display to visitors.
They were set in place in 1940 to prevent German tanks progressing inland if there was an invasion here. Studland was seen as very vulnerable and there are gun emplacements, machine gun posts and other structures built amongst the Studland sand dunes. English Heritage has just listed them Grade II. The older things get the rarer and more valuable they become. The recent wet weather has caused one of the tank traps (‘shark’s teeth’) to fall as the valley sands and clays slump and slide. The war-time builders rushing to erect a defence against imminent attack would not expect their efforts to be valued as a historic monument 73 years later.
Archaeology National Trust SW 