Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

A World War II Pillbox; a type 24 Pillbox, built to cover the beach at Hoo Flats in both directions. There is an anti anti tank casemate adjacent. The Pillbox was seen in 2004 during a coastal survey.

Summary from record TQ 77 SE 1269:

Part of complete complex, forming a section of 'The Hoo Stop Line' in context with anti-tank ditch, blocks and 6pdr pillbox (Type 28A).

Monument Types

• PILLBOX (Modern - 1940 AD to 1945 AD)

Full description

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Type 24, built to cover beach in both directions, the anti tank casemate adjacent and the open fields to the north (1,2), site photographs (3-8). The Pillbox was seen in 2004, still intact, no amendment to the existing record necessary. (9)

Listing Text:

HOO ST WERBURGH

1797/1/10020 Type 24 WWII pillbox on seawall of Riv
21-MAY-10 er Medway at TQ7918771656

GV II
Type 24 infantry pillbox at the southern end of the Hoo Stop-line, built 1940.

MATERIALS: Yellow brick, largely laid in stretcher courses, and concrete.

DESCRIPTION: A Type 24 infantry pillbox located on the north bank of the Medway estuary at TQ 79187 71656. It is built into the back (north) side of the sea wall. It is an irregular hexagon in plan with a flat concrete roof. The single entrance is to the west and its embrasures, are slightly recessed externally. The exterior is interesting in having no brickwork above the embrasures which is a feature unique to this particular part of the GHQ Line and is presumed the particular technique of an individual contractor. Possibly this also allowed the erection of external shutters. The building is oriented such that the field of fire is to the east. Internally is a Y-shaped ricochet wall and surviving wooden frames for the gun rests. The interior is in corrugated concrete and therefore must have been constructed using corrugated formers.

HISTORY: The pillbox was built in 1940 as one component of the Hoo Stop-line. This defensive anti-invasion line stretched for approximately eight miles between the River Thames near Cliffe and the River Medway to the south-east of Hoo St Werburgh. The building of defence works to protect against German invasion began in June 1940 following the defeat of British forces in Europe and the return of many troops from Dunkirk. Stop-lines were essentially anti-tank obstacles intended to check the advance of fast moving columns of armoured troops; they were also intended as prepared battlefields for the Field Army to defend in the event of invasion. The local Home Guard Unit would have been responsible for keeping the pillboxes supplied and would have also assisted in the manning of roadblocks.

The Hoo Stop-line was part of the principal stop-line; the GHQ (General Headquarters) Line which ran from the North Somerset Coast to the east of London and then, parallel with the east coast, to Yorkshire. The GHQ line across the Hoo peninsula took the form of an artificial anti-tank ditch dug to join the Medway and Thames rivers. This was supported by pillboxes, anti-tank rails and road blocks. The War Office plan for this line indicates a total of sixty infantry and eighteen anti-tank pillboxes enclosing the higher ground containing the Lodge Hill and Chattenden Ordnance Depots (now the Royal School of Military Engineering's Lodge Hill Camp and Chattenden Barracks.) Each individual component would have been encircled in barbed wire for extra protection, as would the defended localities (see below). There were probably also other earthworks in support which are now lost, such as slit trenches.

The Hoo Peninsula was a heavily militarised zone during the Second World War with Hoo itself designated as a Defended Village in 1941 with a garrison of sixty-three men armed with anti-tank rifles and Bren guns. Kingshill Camp, to the west of Bell Lane, was a designated Defended Locality with a further one hundred troops from the 347th Searchlight Battery, Royal Artillery. High Halstow village to the north was a further Defended Locality and the Royal Navy Ammunition Store at Lodge Hill had a garrison of three hundred men. As the topography here is very low-lying, with relatively easy access from the coast, the stop-line was intended to provide a man-made defence against invasion, specifically by tanks, and subtle changes in gradient or even hedge lines were used to site the various defensive components to best advantage in the protection of the higher ground and ordnance depots.

SOURCES:
Foot W, Defence Areas: a national study of Second World War anti-invasion landscapes in England. England Heritage and the Council for British Archaeology.
Saunders W & Smith V, Kent's Defense Heritage, Site KD164 Hoo St. Werburgh to Lodge HIll Line of Pillboxes. Kent County History (2001)
War Office document, Hoo Stop Line (reference WO 166/4297): sketch plan and list of infantry and anti-tank pillboxes

REASON FOR DESIGNATION:
The Type 24 infantry pillbox on the sea wall at Hoo St Werburgh is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Historical Interest: a pillbox at the south end of the Hoo Stop Line, a significant stop-line which could have been one of the front lines in the event of an invasion from across The Channel;
* Architectural Interest: a type 24 pillbox with a distinctive north Kentish form;
* Group Value: with a Type 28 pillbox and anti-tank cubes, all of which reinforce the end of the line.

Description from record TQ 77 SE 1269:
Facing East, good overall condition, some embrasures open (sea wall banked up against one side) access via open doorway.
Owner : Public
Publicly accessible : Yes
How accessed for survey : On Saxon Shore Way
Tourism Potential : Possible heritage trail?
Condition : moderate
Date of visit : 06/10/29

=
This feature is recorded in the English Heritage report on the Second World War Stop Line in Hoo Peninsula, part of the wider Hoo Peninsula study. The report states: "Second World War Type 24 reinforced concrete pillbox with brick shuttering constructed on the river wall on the north bank of the Medway, south east of Hoo St Werburgh; built to cover the foreshore, adjacent anti-tank casemate (NRHE 1418689) and the open fields to the north. The pillbox is visible on aerial photographs taken in May 1942 and clearly visible on aerial photographs of September 2013 (Google Earth). Seen during a field visit in Summer 2014. Listed at Grade II NHLE 1393815. (10)

MMRG, 14/05/06, Pillbox Type 24 (Photograph). SKE14648.

unkown, 18/01/41, War diary 11th glosters (Map). SKE14279.

<1> Victor Smith and Ron Crowdy, Thames Gateway Assesment: Gazetteer of Defence Sites (Index). SKE6445.

<2> Kent County Council, 1999, Survey of Kent post-1500 defence sites, KD164 (Index). SWX11828.

<3> 1946, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9563.

<4> 1947, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9839.

<5> 1947, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9840.

<6> 1947, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9869.

<7> 2000, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10334.

<8> 1946, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9512.

<9> Wessex Archaeology, 2005, North Kent Coast Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey: Phase ll: Field Assessment Year One report (Unpublished document). SWX12121.

<10> historic england, 2014, Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project: Second World War Stop Line: Hoo St Werburgh to Higham Marshes. Research Report 9-2014. (Bibliographic reference). SKE31599.

Sources and further reading

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