Either fixed like one above or dropped into sockets in road. Anti-Tank "Hairpins" at Paynes Lane, Nazeing - WWII Heritage Tim
Before you think I'm an expert I didn't know about these either. I had to look it up. Clive's the clever one first for noticing these things and then for photographing and posting them. It's making me much more observant and knowledgeable. I'd never heard of stretcher fencing either until Clive's photos. Tim
John and Tim I had no idea about them either when I first heard about them I thought "hairpin" aha a hair pin in the road at an acute angle to stop tanks regards Clive
I recently came across these photographs I took back in 2011. They are/were at Bridgnorth Railway Station, the northern terminus of the Severn Valley Railway. At the time I put the photo's on a railway forum, asking if anyone knew anything about them. No one did. I wondered if they were part of defences for the railway line.
The Germans used similar devices in WW1 on the Western Front. The idea seems less to stop the tank rather than to slow it down and divert it into a position where it was easier to hit with an AT weapon.
This looks like something called a rail block, a rare survivor: http://www.pillbox.org.uk/blog/216669/
