Monument record SLY 070 - An extensive World War II barbed wire obstruction, Shotley parish.

An extensive length of barbed wire is visible as a structure on aerial photographs from 1944 to 1947. The barbed wire runs in an inverted V shape, across the neck of Shotley peninsular from the south-west to north-east, and along the north eastern coast to the south-eastern tip. The south-west to north-east line runs across Shotley peninsular for approximately 1.7km, from TM23863402 where it meets the River Stour to TM24803532 where it abuts the sea wall at the River Orwell. This stretch is associated with a length of anti-tank ditch, which it follows across the peninsular (see SLY 069).
Along the north-eastern edge of Shotley peninsular, the barbed wire extends for circa 1.4km, from TM24793528 to TM25303424. For much of its length, this leg of this obstruction is set about 10m inland of an existing drainage channel, which runs along the inside edge of the sea wall. At regular intervals of between 70 to 90m, short lengths of barbed wire of circa 10 to 20m extend at 90 degrees from the main line in a north-easterly direction, over the sea wall. The function of these extensions was to prevent an enemy from moving laterally along the sea wall in the case of an invasion. The focus of this extensive defence appears to be the protection against possible invasion for the naval base that covered much of Shotley Point at this time. Barbed wire was a component in a coastal defence network that covered much of the Suffolk coastline during WWII. Quick and easy to deploy, barbed wire was often rapidly removed once hostilities had ended. In this instance, most of the barbed wire appears to have been removed by May 1946, but some sections appear to remain in place, at least until January 1947. (S1-S4).