Exploring Kent's Past

It should not be assumed that this site is publicly accessible and it may be on private property. Do not trespass.

Monument details

Summary

This Battery was built in 1941 for three 6 inch high angle Coast Defence guns as part of Britains coast defences. The battery has mostly been demolished. It is possible to see the remains of the three gun emplacements along the cliff top, concrete roads and part of the domestic camp. The site is located at Lydden Spout between the A20 by the lay-by and the cliff top. The area in now managed by the National Trust.

Summary from record 1423481:

A Second World War coastal battery is visible as structures, buildings and earthworks on aerial photographs taken in 1946. Two large upstanding buildings are present in good condition on a track leading north from the emplacements, and are visible on aerial photographs taken in 2007. An overgrown, blast protected structure stands to the east of the track 80 metres north of emplacements, recorded as (NMR: 1423479). Seven building bases and extant dispersed buildings are present throughout the site on aerial photographs taken in 2007. The site comprises three gun emplacements (one of which is recorded as NMR: 1423477), circa 5 observation posts, an air raid shelter, a gunpost, circa 10 barracks partly surrounded by blast walls, a spoil heap and three further structures. The site is surrounded by a barbed wire obstruction perimeter fence. A Chain Home Low radar station was located adjacent to the battery to the east (NMR: 1477687).

Monument Types

• AIR RAID SHELTER (Modern - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• BARBED WIRE OBSTRUCTION (Modern - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• BARRACKS (Modern - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• BLAST WALL (Modern - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• GUN EMPLACEMENT (Modern - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• GUNPOST (Modern - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• OBSERVATION POST (Modern - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• SPOIL HEAP (Modern - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• STRUCTURE (Modern - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• COASTAL BATTERY (Modern - 1941 AD? to 1944 AD?)

Full description

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The battery consisted of three 6 inch high angle gun emplacements with overhead cover, magazines were located behind each gun emplacement. Each magazine was sunk into the ground and consisted of two rooms, one for shells and one for cartridges. The was an underground Plotting Room, Engine Rooms and a Domestic camp site. The W O's and Sergeant's Mess and the Dinning Room and Cookhouse are extant. Deep below the battery cut into the cliffs was a Deep Shelter and hospital. Below the cliffs near the railway level were two searchlight emplacements. On the cliff top was also a Battery Observation Post.
Owner : Private
Publicly accessible : Yes
How accessed for survey :
Tourism Potential :
Condition : Destroyed
Date of visit :

Description from record 1423481:
3 x 6in guns.Coastal battery. It has dispersed elements, some shared with Hougham Battery to the E [see UORN 9197]. The site survives in reasonable condition. Two large upstanding buildings are visible in good condition on track leading N from the gun emplacements. Blast protected structure (now overgrown) to E of track 80m N of emplacements. At least seven building bases survive at surface level. [information from 1983 aerial photographs]. On cliffs E of Capel-le-Ferne and S of West Hougham. (1)

Lydden Spout coastal battery located at TR 282 389. The battery was fitted with three 6-inch breech-loading guns by February 1941. From 1943 the battery performed combined counter-bombardment and close defence duties. It was in use throughout the Second World War. In 1941 a Coastal Defence/Chain Home Low radar station was co-located at the battery. In late summer 1941 it was the first battery to receive the new centrimetric surface-watching equipment. This came into action on 27-NOV-1941 when the battery made the first radar-guided shoot against a flotilla of E-boats.

The three gun emplacements were located at TR 2815 3882, TR 2825 3886 and TR 2835 3890. Three coast artillery searchlights were positioned at TR 2881 3895, TR 2953 3921 and TR 2959 3922, the position finder at TR 2852 3896 and radar at TR 2862 3902. (2-3)

Aerial photography from 1983 shows the remains of the battery with dispersed elements (some of which were shared with Hougham Battery) surviving in reasonable condition. The three gun emplacements are visible, although mostly filled in at TR 2840 3898. Two large, upstanding buildings are present in good condition on a track leading north from the emplacements. A blast protected structure (overgrown) stands to the east of the track 80 metres north of emplacements. A protected structure is in reasonable condition immediately behind the emplacements. At least seven building bases survive at surface level, but there is potential for more below the surface. A minor building base is visible at TR 2862 3902 and two rectilinear buildings at the coastline at TR 2904 3920. Large, dispersed, blast-protected structures are visible at TR 2850 3918, TR 2850 3946, TR 2884 3936 and TR 2886 3958. (4)

A Second World War coastal battery is visible as structures, buildings and earthworks on aerial photographs taken in 1946. Two large upstanding buildings are present in good condition on a track leading north from the emplacements, and are visible on aerial photographs taken in 2007. An overgrown, blast protected structure stands to the east of the track 80 metres north of emplacements, recorded as (NMR: 1423479). Seven building bases and extant dispersed buildings are present throughout the site on aerial photographs taken in 2007.

The site comprises three gun emplacements (one of which is recorded as NMR: 1423477), circa 5 observation posts, an air raid shelter, a gunpost, circa 10 barracks, a spoil heap and four military buildings. The site is surrounded by a barbed wire obstruction perimeter fence.

A Chain Home Low radar station was located adjacent to the battery to the east (NMR: 1477687).

Only part of the site extends into the project area of the South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey NMP (Component 2), so some of the features have not been drawn. The extent of the whole site has been defined. Some of these earthworks and structures are likely to date to and earlier phase of coastal battery which was constructed on this site in 1940-41 (5-7).

01/01/75, Verbal Communication (Verbal communication). SKE14122.

01/01/75, Verbal Communication (Verbal communication). Ske14122.

C. Dobson, 2000, Twentieth century fortifications in England: Coast Artillery 1900-1956 (Monograph). SKE52187.

<1> Council for British Archaeology, 2002/6, Defence of Kent database (Digital archive). SWX23603.

<2> Dobinson, C., 2000, Twentieth century fortifications in England. Volume 6.1. Coast Artillery, 1900-1956, 6.1 pp 152-161 (Monograph). SWX23710.

<3> Dobinson, C., 2000, Twentieth century fortifications in England. Volume 6.2. Coast Artillery, 1900-1956, 6.2 pp 250 (Monograph). SWX23711.

<4> ?, Twentieth century military recording project: World War Two Coastal Batteries, pp 90-91 (Unspecified Type). SWX23712.

<5> Vertical aerial photograph reference number (Unspecified Type). SWX23842.

<6> RAF, 1946, NMR RAF/106G/UK/1093 4007-4008 03-JAN-1946 (Photograph). SWX23799.

<7> RAF, 1966, NMR RAF/V58/RAF/7170 0171-0172 06-JAN-1966 (Photograph). SWX23952.

Sources and further reading

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