Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

This site is on the east side of Sandbanks Hill at Green Street Green and originated around 1939/40. It was designated S18 and formed part of the Thames and Medway Gun Defended Area.

In April 1940 it was listed as a practice camp armed with 2 old pattern 3-in. guns. It subsequently received 4 x 3.7-in. guns. Official documentation may suggest that it was disarmed from at least as early as May, 1942 but eyewitness reports affirm that this was not the case and that it continued in use for a longer period, being rearmed with heavier 4.5-in. guns and gaining two further gun emplacements.

Second World War heavy anti-aircraft battery (S18) at Warrigal Farm, Green Street Green, nr Dartford. Built by 1940 with 4 (later 6 emplacements) around a command post These remain, with magazines, a battery road and traces of the domestic area. The date of decommissioning is not known but was no earlier than 1945. It is currently in use as a riding school and stable.

Monument Types

• ANTI AIRCRAFT BATTERY (Modern - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)

Full description

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This site is on the east side of Sandbanks Hill at Green Street Green and originated around 1939/40. It was designated S18 and formed part of the Thames and Medway Gun Defended Area.

In April 1940 it was listed as a practice camp armed with 2 old pattern 3-in. guns. It subsequently received 4 x 3.7-in. guns. Official documentation may suggest that it was disarmed from at least as early as May, 1942 but eyewitness reports affirm that this was not the case and that it continued in use for a longer period, being rearmed with heavier 4.5-in. guns and gaining two further gun emplacements.

The site did not figure in post-war anti-aircraft defence.

The battery consists of six gun emplacements. The original four of these are on the points of an imaginary trapezium, centred on a command post, around which is the remnant of a service road. Separating either pair of emplacements is a sunken magazine. One of the emplacements is occupied by a modern storage building. The two further emplacements of a different and later design are to be found in front of the east and west extremities of the original grouping. A battery road connects the emplacements to Sandbanks Hill Road. On the north side of the battery road are several huts remaining from the domestic part of the site.

The original four emplacements are of conventional octagonal plan, formed of concrete walls with six internally placed ammunition lockers. The bolts forming the holdfasts for the gun may be seen in the centre of one of the emplacements. A small shelter is annexed to each emplacement.

The magazines are rectangular structures with a flat concrete roof, accessed down a slope from the emplacement at either end. Internally, they are arranged into five storage bays, with panels for recording ammunition holdings painted on the ends of their dividing walls.

The two additional emplacements were inaccessible because of heavy brush but were of rectangular plan and defined by concrete walls.

The Command Post is a broadly rectangular concrete structure, with several open bays for a spotting telescope, height and range finder and predictor, behind an enclosed element consisting of one or more rooms. The latter were originally entered through an opening from one of the bays. In rear of the western open bay are several other rooms. Entry to the underground elements was not possible because of the presence of debris and thick brush.

There are several timber barrack huts on the north side of the road connecting the emplacements to Sandbanks Hill road as well as a concrete building mounted with double doors The latter may have been the Gun Store. Between the barrack buildings are signs of other battery roads, including another more northern connection with Sandbanks Hill. (1)


Second World War heavy anti-aircraft battery at Warrigal Farm, Green Street Green, nr Dartford. Designated S18 it formed part of the Thames and Medway Gun defended Area. In April, 1940 it was listed as a practice camp armed with two old-pattern 3-in. guns, subsequently receiving 4 x 3.7-in. perhaps later 4.5-in. The battery consists of 6 emplacements, the original 4 octagonal ones on the points of an imaginary trapezium, centred on a command post. Separating either pair of emplacements is a sunken magazine. Two further emplacements of a later, rectangular, design are in front of the east and west extremities of the original grouping. A battery road connects the emplacements to Sandbanks Hill Road. On the north side of the road are several huts remaining from the domestic part of the site. The date of decommissioning of the battery is not yet known but was no earlier than 1945. The battery is currently in use as a riding school and stable. (2)

<1> Victor Smith and Andrew Saunders, 2001, Kent's Defence Heritage (Unpublished document). SKE6956.

<2> Andrew Saunders and Victor Smith (Kent County Council), 01/01/2000, Kent's Defence Heritage, site report KD85 (Bibliographic reference). SKE24121.

Sources and further reading