A DEVASTATING barn fire resulted in a busy road being shut down in both directions... for more than 12 hours. 

Colchester Road, in Colchester, was closed by the emergency services from Bakers Lane to Maltings Park Road due to a building blaze at a barn.

The closure, put in place over the top of the A12, north-west of the city centre, affected traffic heading to and from Wormingford.

According to the Essex Fire Service, firefighters from Colchester, Coggeshall and Halstead were called to the inferno shortly before 8pm on Sunday.

The flame-engulfed building, which measured approximately 20-metres by ten-metres, dangerously contained a number of cylinders.

Thankfully, however, firefighters managed to remove the cylinders from the building before they could become involved in the blaze.

The fire was eventually extinguished by 11pm but fire crews remained on site overnight to ensure all of the hotspots were fully extinguished.

As a result, a cordon impacting motorists travelling in and around the scene of the incident remained in place until late the following morning.

A spokesman for the Essex Fire Service said: "An investigation will be carried out to establish the cause of the fire."

Essex Police were contacted for comment but did not wish to respond at this stage.