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Monument details
| HER Number: | MWX43418 |
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| Type of record: | Monument |
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| Name: | Probable WWII roadblock Canterbury Gate, Sandwich |
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Summary
Two depressions, thought to be trenches for the set-up of a roadblock, are visible running through the road close to Canterbury Gate, Sandwich on 1940s aerial photographs. They are one of several defensive features added to the circuit of Sandwich’s existing medieval town defences during WWII. The trenches appear to have been infilled post-war and are no longer visible on aerial photographs from the late 1970s.
| Grid Reference: | TR 32641 58542 |
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| Map Sheet: | TR35NW |
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| Parish: | SANDWICH, DOVER, KENT |
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Monument Types
- ROADBLOCK (Modern - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
Full description
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Two narrow depressions are visible running through the road close to Canterbury Gate, Sandwich on 1940s RAF vertical aerial photographs. They are first visible in photographs from 1942 [1] and run through the line of the road at right-angles to its course. They are thought to be trenches for the set-up of a roadblock; one of several added to the circuit of Sandwich’s existing medieval town defences during WWII (MWX43421, MWX 43423, MWX43554). Further contemporary defensive features lie to the immediate north-east (MWX43420).
The trenches appear to have been infilled post-war and are no longer visible on aerial photographs from the late 1970s [2].
A transcription of the features recorded from aerial photography exists within a GIS layer held by this HER [3].
<3> Wessex Archaeology, 2009-10, South-East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey - Aerial Photographic Transcriptions (Digital archive). SWX15705.
<3> Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey - (SE RCZAS) Phase 1: National Mapping Programme Report (Unpublished document). SKE25955.
<3> Cornwall Council Historic Environment Projects and Gloucestershire County Council, 2011, South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey National Mapping Programme Components 1&2: Results of NMP Mapping (Unpublished document). SKE25954.
Sources and further reading
| Cross-ref.
| Source description | | <3> | Unpublished document: Cornwall Council Historic Environment Projects and Gloucestershire County Council. 2011. South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey National Mapping Programme Components 1&2: Results of NMP Mapping. |
| <3> | Unpublished document: Wessex Archaeology. 2011. South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey - (SE RCZAS) Phase 1: National Mapping Programme Report. |
| <3> | Digital archive: Wessex Archaeology. 2009-10. South-East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey - Aerial Photographic Transcriptions. |
Related records
| MWX43421 | Parent of: Probable WWII roadblock Woodnesborough Gate, Sandwich (Monument) |
| MWX43423 | Part of: Probable WWII roadblock New Gate, Sandwich (Monument) |
| MWX43554 | Part of: Probable WWII roadblock Sandwich Bridge, Sandwich (Monument) |
| MWX43420 | Part of: WWII defence features Canterbury Gate, Sandwich (Monument) |
