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Monument details

HER Number:TQ 76 NE 376
Type of record:Monument
Name:SEMAPHORE SIGNAL, GILLINGHAM DOCKYARD RAILWAY

Summary

Former site of a Grade II listed building. Main construction periods 1865 to 1905.

A railway signal located some 80m north of Gillingham Gate at the side of the Chatham Dockyard railway. It is thought to be typical of the form adopted by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway Company.


Grid Reference:TQ 7743 6951
Map Sheet:TQ76NE
Parish:GILLINGHAM, MEDWAY, KENT

Monument Types

  • RAILWAY SIGNAL (Post Medieval to Modern - 1540 AD? to 2007 AD?)
  • SITE (Post Medieval to Modern - 1865 AD to 1905 AD)

Full description

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The following text is from the original listed building designation:

GILLINGHAM
TQ76NE GILLINGHAM PORT GATE 686-1/7/59 Chatham Dockyard 14/08/92 Semaphore signal, Gillingham Dockyard Railway
II
Semaphore signal. c1885. Cast-iron. Bi-directional signal protecting both a road crossing and the Chatham Dockyard Branch railway (opened February 1877). Approximately 20 feet high, tapering, with a red and a white arm controlled by hand levers, attached to the base of the post, which can move the arms through 3 positions, with colour discs and a circular lamp for night signalling. HISTORY: thought to be a unique survivor of this early form of semaphore signal, which though probably erected for the railway, is similar in its working principles to the Naval Semaphore telegraph used since Napoleonic times to link the coast with London. (Journal of the Signalling Record Society: January: 1992-).
Listing NGR: TQ7697568044
(1)

Demolished in the 1990s.

Railway signal 80m north of Gillingham Gate at side of Dockyard railway. Its finial is typical of the form adopted by London, Chatham and Dover Railway Co. (1)


<1> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

<2> Untitled Source, Victor Smith Feb 1997 (Unpublished document). SKE6451.

Sources and further reading

Cross-ref. Source description
<1>Map: English Heritage. List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest.
<2>Unpublished document: Victor Smith Feb 1997.