A local echo of WW2

In 1940 Britain was facing the very real threat of an invasion by Nazi Germany and great efforts were put into defending vulnerable areas of the coastline. In 1938, the German airship Graf Zeppelin had photographed the northeast Scottish coast in great detail in preparation for a possible future invasion. Our own area around Newburgh-on-Ythan, with its gently sloping sandy beaches, would have been an ideal site for a landing by the German army. 
The market town of Ellon lies just inland from the Newburgh beaches and there is still evidence of the efforts that were made there to impede the progress of an invading army should they make a landing.
This concrete structure is the remains of a street gate set into the massive walls of Ellon Castle and designed to block the main road into the town. There would have been a similar structure on the other side of the road and when needed iron girders would have been lowered into the slots in order to barricade the road.