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

Two narrow depressions, interpreted as trenches for the set-up of a roadblock, are visible running through the road at the approach to Sandwich Bridge on 1940s aerial photographs. It is one of several added to the circuit of Sandwich’s existing medieval town defences during WWII.

Monument Types

• ROADBLOCK (Modern - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)

Full description

If you do not understand anything on this page please contact us.

Two narrow depressions are visible running through the road at the approach to Sandwich Bridge 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 (MWX4341, MWX43421, MWX 43423). Further contemporary defensive features lie to the north-east (MWX TBC).

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2011, South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey - (SE RCZAS) Phase 1: National Mapping Programme Report (Unpublished document).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South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey National Mapping Programme Components 1&2: Results of NMP Mapping (Unpublished document).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

Related records