Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

An area of railway or tramway sidings built in WWI as part of Richborough Port, a major WWI port serving allied troops on the Western Front. Use of the facility continued after the war into the early 1920s, as part of the salvage operation returning material from the Front, after which it was decommissioned. These sidings appear to have been removed by WWII and were not re-used as part of the D-Day operations. It is probable that any features relating to the sidings have been removed by the subsequent development of Richborough Power Station on the site.

Monument Types

• RAILWAY SIDING (Modern - 1916 AD to 1945 AD)

Full description

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An area of railway or tramway sidings built in WWI as part of Richborough Port (MWX43487), a major WWI port serving allied troops on the Western Front [1]. Please see MWX43487 for details of the site as a whole. The sidings were built for traffic carrying material to and from the Western Front via the train ferry dock and wharf to the immediate east (Mke41999 & Mke42008). Use of the facility continued after the war into the early 1920s, as part of the salvage operation returning material from the Front, after which it was decommissioned. Unlike Weatherlees Sidings (MWX43282) to the immediate north, these sidings appear to have been removed by WWII and were not re-used as part of the D-Day operations. The sidings are visible as shallow, rail-less, embankments on RAF vertical aerial photographs taken in 1942 [2]. It is probable that any features relating to the sidings have been removed by subsequent development as Richborough Power Station now occupies the entirely of this site [3-4].

The earthwork remains of the WW1 railway sidings described above were visible on aerial photographs: US/7PH/GP/LOC286 V 5008 19-APR-1944 (5) and mapped as part of the Historic England Thanet Landscape Mapping Project 2024. The sidings split into four main branches, converging again at the port. The earthen embankments appear to have had the rails removed by 1944. The remains have since been levelled and built on (6)

<1> Robert Butler, 01/01/99, Richborough Port (Bibliographic reference). Ske14148.

<3> Next Perspectives consortium via English Heritage, 2003, 2007, Next Perspective PGA georeferenced aerial photograph data, PGA_TR3361_2003-08-14.jpg (Graphic material). SWX15711.

<4> Next Perspectives consortium via English Heritage, 2003, 2007, Next Perspective PGA georeferenced aerial photograph data, PGA_TR3362_2003-08-14.jpg (Graphic material). SWX15711.

<5> Historic England Archive, 1944, Historic England Archive USAF vertical aerial photographs, US/7PH/GP/LOC286 V 5008 19-APR-1944 (Archive). SKE57114.

<6> Environment Agency, 2017, 2019, LIDAR Environment Agency 1m DSM, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM 02-DEC-2019 (Archive). SKE57109.

Sources and further reading

Related records