Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

A World War II Heavy Anti Aircraft Battery, near Fenn Street. Connected with a nearby air defence command post (see TQ 87 NW 47). The battery was originally proposed in 1938 when it was envisaged that it would be mounted with 4 x 4.5-in. guns. When built, it was armed with 3.7-in. weapons around a command post. It was also provided with gun-laying radar. There was an accommodation camp immediately north-west of the battery. In November, 1944, four of the new-pattern 5.25-in. guns were added in additional emplacements on the same site. About this date, or shortly after, a second and detached command post was built in a field 300m to the north-east, presumably for the 5.25-in. guns. Fenn Street continued in use into the Cold War as an ‘Igloo’ site under the air defence scheme and, presumably, lasted until the demise of anti-aircraft artillery in 1955/6. The battery itself was demolished for housing development in the 1980s, leaving the detached command post only remaining.

Monument Types

• HEAVY ANTI AIRCRAFT BATTERY (Modern - 1940 AD? to 1956 AD? (throughout))

Full description

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Site originally identified from an aerial photograph (1). Designated TS10 (Thames South 10) it was located within the Thames and Medway GDA (Gun Defended Area) and was part of a chain of batteries in the area (2).

From the Kent's Defence Heritage survey report: "The battery was originally proposed in 1938 when it was envisaged that it would be mounted with 4 x 4.5-in. guns. When built, it was armed with 3.7-in. weapons around a command post. It was also provided with gun-laying radar. There was an accommodation camp immediately NW of the battery. In November, 1944, four of the new-pattern 5.25-in. guns were added in additional emplacements on the same site. About this date, or shortly after, a second and detached command post [TQ 87 NW 47] was built in a field 300m NE, presumably for the 5.25-in. guns. Fenn Street continued in use into the Cold War as an ‘Igloo’ site under the air defence scheme and, presumably, lasted until the demise of anti-aircraft artillery in 1955/6. The battery itself was demolished for housing development in the 1980s, leaving the detached command post only remaining."(3)

This feature is recorded in the English Heritage Historic Area Assessment for High Halstow Parish. The report states: "Before the outbreak of the Second World War an anti-aircraft battery was established at Fenn Street, supplemented in 1940 by an unmanned reserve battery site at Decoy Farm." (4)

This feature is recorded in the English Heritage Historic Area Assessment for St Mary Hoo Parish. The report states: "The anti-aircraft battery and associated camp was initially retained after the war as a Nucleus Force Battery Headquarters. After this was closed down, the battery was cleared and its site was reused for a residential development, Bellwood Court, and a small industrial estate…The site of the former anti-aircraft battery and military camp at Fenn Street has been almost completely redeveloped. Adjoining the Ratcliffe Highway is a small industrial estate. This miscellany of late 20th century industrial premises retains one former camp building, a single storey brick range presently in office use. The gunsite to the south was entirely cleared in the 1980s; replaced by Bellwood Court, a single development of late 20th century large detached houses, individually desgined using a mixture of vernacular styles, ranged around a cul-de-sac. Perhaps unconsciously, its layout has echoes of the semi-circular arrangement of gun emplacements that preceded it" (5)

<1> 1946, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9445.

<2> English Heritage Monuments Protection Programme, 2001, Monument Protection Programme: report of site considered under MPP for which scheduling is not recommended: Fenn Street Heavy Anti-Aircraft site, St Mary's Hoo (Scheduling record). SKE15750.

<3> Victor Smith and Andrew Saunders, 2001, Kent's Defence Heritage, KD91 (Unpublished document). SKE6956.

<4> historic england, 2014, High Halstow, Hoo Peninsula, Kent: Historic Area Assessment. Research Report 53-2014 (Bibliographic reference). SKE31598.

<5> historic england, 2014, Hoo Peninsula Outline Historic Area Assessment: St Mary Hoo Parish. Research Report 2014-52 (Bibliographic reference). SKE31593.

Sources and further reading

Related records