Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

A Second World War PLUTO (Pipeline Under The Ocean) pumping station is visible on aerial photographs of 1946 as extant buildings and structures just to the west of The Old Battery at Dungeness. These features were mapped from aerial photographs as part of the South East RCZAS NMP project.

Monument Types

• PUMP HOUSE (Modern - 1944 AD to 1945 AD)

Full description

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The site is centred at TR 0874 1866, and consists of a pumping station situated within a probably pre-existing house on the north-eastern side of Dungeness Road; two large cylindrical towers or tanks; and two large pits. These features extend across an area measuring approximately 200m east to west either side of Dungeness Road; and 100m north to south. The house is now the Pluto Bed and Breakfast (1). Other nearby buildings may have also formed a part of the pumping station, although this is not apparent from the aerial photographs. The exact function of the cylindrical towers is not known, but they are thought to be a part of the PLUTO site due to the fact that the two other possible PLUTO pumping stations nearby also have identical tanks (and pits) adjacent to them (Monument Numbers 1533387, 1533740). They may have been storage tanks for the fuel powering the pumping station generators, or they may have been storage or header tanks for the pipeline; ensuring a continual supply of fuel to the pumping station.

The tall cylindrical tanks measure approximately 16m in diameter, and are situated approximately 172m apart. Between the westernmost cylinder and the road; two large pits are also visible on the aerial photographs. The northernmost pit is kidney-shaped in plan, and measures approximately 33m by 22m. The pit to the south is an irregular sub-circular shape in plan, and measures approximately 21m by 16m. The purpose of these pits is not clear, although it is thought they may have been associated with the storage tanks due to their proximity and contemporaneity, as well as the fact that identical storage tanks at the other two possible PLUTO sites nearby also have similar pits associated with them. Perhaps gravel was extracted from these pits for construction of the foundations of the storage tanks, although this is just speculation.

By the time of vertical aerial photographs of 1962; the cylindrical storage tanks had been removed, and the pits had been in-filled. The building housing the pumping station survives to this day, as mentioned above (1-3).

<1> http://www.romneymarshguesthouses.co.uk/pluto.html (Website). SWX23991.

<2> RAF, 1946, NMR RAF/106G/UK/1725 4090-91 10-SEPT-1946 (Photograph). SWX23826.

<3> 1962, NMR MAL/62513 97949-97950 11-APR-1962 (Photograph). SWX23769.

Sources and further reading

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