Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

A Second World War battery known as the Dungeness East Coastal Battery was recorded nearby from documentary sources. This area was surveyed from historic aerial photographs of the 1940s, which has resulted in the suggested location of this monument moving approximately 120m to the ENE. No trace of the battery was visible by the time of vertical aerial photographs of 1958. This feature has been mapped from aerial photographs as part of the South East RCZAS NMP project.

Monument Types

• COASTAL BATTERY (Modern - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)

Full description

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Dungeness East coastal battery located at TR 0930 1690. This was an emergency battery built during the Second World War as part of Eastern Command's coastal defences. The battery was operational by 1942 and mounted three 6-inch ex-naval guns. By September 1944 the armament had been reduced to two guns. It was manned by 213 Battery of 551 Coast Regiment. A second emergency battery for 4.7-inch guns was located at Dungeness West (TR 0915 1685).

No. 1 and No. 2 gun emplacements were located at TR 0930 1690 and No. 3 gun at TR 0940 1690. The Barr and Stroud rangefinder was positioned at TR 0935 1685. (1-2)

Aerial photography from 2000 shows that the site is occupied by housing and part of the beach and no features of the battery remain. (3)

Three interconnecting and outward-facing structures which have been interpreted as the Second World War Dungeness West Coastal Battery are visible on aerial photographs of 1942 on the seafront to the ENE of the new Lighthouse at Dungeness. The site is centred at TR 0941 1694, and extends across an area measuring approximately 90m south-west to north-east and 34m north-west to south-east. This site was previously recorded from documentary sources as being located at TR 0930 1690, approximately 120 to the WSW.

The battery consists of three large outward-facing rectangular structures orientated to cover a wide expanse of the coast off the Dungeness headland. They measure approximately 15m by 12m. They are spaced roughly 25m apart, and are linked by what appears to be a covered walkway to their rear. A large square structure measuring 12m across is situated centrally behind the walkway, and appears to be connected to it.

Oblique aerial photographs of 1941 clearly show this large battery complex under construction. Work had been completed by the time of the vertical aerial photographs of 1942. This coastal battery is located within the barbed wire perimeter of a Second World War military site recorded as Monument Number 1533417 which includes pillboxes, nissen huts and other military buildings, as well as slit trenches and weapons pits. The coastal battery is also situated immediately in front of the Second World War anti-invasion beach scaffolding (Monument Number 1533475).

By the time of the vertical aerial photograph of 1958 the Dungeness East Coastal Battery had been removed, along with all the other contemporary Second World War military structures (4-6).

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

<1> Dobinson, C., 2000, Twentieth century fortifications in England. Volume 6.1. Coast Artillery, 1900-1956, 6.1 pp 61 (Monograph). SWX23710.

<2> Dobinson, C., 2000, Twentieth century fortifications in England. Volume 6.2. Coast Artillery, 1900-1956, 6.2 pp 304 (Monograph). SWX23711.

<3> ?, Twentieth century military recording project: World War Two Coastal Batteries, pp 89 (Unspecified Type). SWX23712.

<4> Oblique aerial photograph reference number (Unspecified Type). SWX23617.

<5> RAF, 1942, NMR RAF/FNO/25 6038-6039 26-JUN-1942 (Photograph). SWX23910.

<6> Vertical aerial photograph reference number (Unspecified Type). SWX23871.

Sources and further reading

Related records