At the beginning of the war a barrier was made and placed at the entrance to Common Lane. It was a big tree trunk with a wheel at one end covered in barbed wire. It was supposed to stop tanks, but the village children played on it and it did not last very long.

Another barrier was put on Loughton Road at the start of the village (coming in from Loughton). The barriers were to be pulled across the road to stop any invading Germans entering the village.

From the beginning of the war a system was set up for fire watching. The men who were left in the village would take it in turns to do this one or two nights a week. They were based at the Memorial Hall. The men had camp beds and tea making facilities. Their job was to watch the village in case of an air raid.

A man who lived in a thatched cottage by the Victoria pub covered the roof of his cottage with sheets of tin and painted them bright green. This was to stop the thatch catching fire from any sparks in the air from any bombs being dropped.

The Home Guard was set up in May 1940 to defend the Home Front and help in repelling any invasion. The village Home Guard was set up and Jim Smith, Landlord of the Victoria pub ran the group, which consisted of about twelve local men. Jim drilled them in the pub yard.

The village group was later disbanded and joined with the men from Wolverton.