Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

The possible site of Higham Blockhouse, a small artillery blockhouse built by Henry VIII in 1539 as part of his chain of coastal defences in response to the threat of foreign invasion. It was one of five blockhouses built along this stretch of the river Thames to defend the approach to London and the dockyards at Woolwich and Deptford; the others being at Tilbury, East Tilbury, Milton and Gravesend. It was decommissioned in 1553 and demolished in 1557-8.It was probably a D-shaped blockhouse similar to Gravesend and East Tilbury blockhouses. Nothing remains of the blockhouse and its precise location is not known although it may have stood on the west bank of Shorne Creek where it meets the River Thames. The remains of the blockhouse are shown on Robert Adam's 1588 map of the Thames Defences.

Monument Types

• BLOCKHOUSE (BLOCKHOUSE, Medieval to Post Medieval - 1539 AD to 1900 AD)
• ARTILLERY FORT (Post Medieval to Unknown - 1553 AD?)

Full description

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A bulwark or blockhouse at Higham, mentioned in 1540, was one of five authorised for the Thames defences in 1539. [It is now shown on Robert Adam's Map of the Thames Defences 1588.] (a)(b) (1). No further information; there is nothing to be seen on the Higham parish foreshore (2).

Additional index entries and references from relevant site reports (3-8).
Possible location of blockhouse, referred to by Spurrell who describes a quantity of stone and rubble in layers (9). Mentioned in context with other Thames defences (10). Site photographs (11-15).

<1> L & P Hy VIII 1540 323 (OS Card Reference). SKE45981.

<2> L & P Hy VIII 1 1539 398 (OS Card Reference). SKE45980.

<3> Ant J 1960 154 map (AD Saunders) (OS Card Reference). SKE33151.

<4> F1 FGA 13-NOV-64 (OS Card Reference). SKE42920.

<5> Ant J 40 1960 153 (AD Saunders) (OS Card Reference). SKE33185.

<6> Arch Cant 89 1974 141-68 (VTC Smith) (OS Card Reference). SKE35971.

<7> Handbook of Kent's Defences 1540-1945 1977 9 (D Bennett) (OS Card Reference). SKE43683.

<8> Field report for monument TQ 77 NW 19 - November, 1964 (Bibliographic reference). SKE4240.

<9> Spurrell, F. C. J., 1885, Early sites and embankments on the margins of the Thames estuary., p 289 (Article in serial). SWX7560.

<10> Saunders, Andrew, 1995, Thames fortifications during the 16th to 19th centuries (Article in monograph). SWX9358.

<11> 1946, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9422.

<12> 1947, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9859.

<13> 1947, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9866.

<14> 1942, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10003.

<15> 1978, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10929.

Sources and further reading