Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Second World War trenches which appear to have connected contemporary pillboxes (Monument Numbers 1535203, 1535204) and an emergency coastal battery (Monument Number 1485888) are visible on aerial photographs of 1942 as earthworks at the site of the St Marys Bay Pumping Station. These features have been mapped from aerial photographs as part of the South East RCZAS NMP project.

Monument Types

• SLIT TRENCH (Modern - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)

Full description

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The narrow trenches are centred at TR 0905 2728, and consist of three interconnected branches which extend across an area measuring approximately 60m north to south and 80m east to west. They appear to connect two pillboxes (Monument Numbers 1535203, 1535204) with an emergency coastal battery on the seafront (Monument Number 1485888). The aerial photographs of 1942 appear to show that each of the three trenches is crossed by two parallel lines of barbed wire (Monument Number 1535054).

They are visible on vertical aerial photographs of 1942 as narrow ditches flanked in places on either side by narrow banks. They are still visible as extant earthworks on vertical aerial photographs of 1946, but no trace of them is visible on the vertical aerial photographs of 1983 (1-3).

<1> RAF, 1942, NMR RAF/AC81 174-5 26-AUG-1942 (Photograph). SWX23894.

<2> RAF, 1946, NMR RAF/106G/UK/1439 3024-5 30-APR-1946 (Photograph). SWX23809.

<3> 1983, NMR MAL/83019 032 12-JUL-1983 (Photograph). SWX23778.

Sources and further reading

Related records