Link to printer-friendly page

It should not be assumed that this site is publicly accessible and it may be on private property. Do not trespass.

Monument details

HER Number:TR 07 SW 20
Type of record:Monument
Name:Fletcher battery (c1900)

Summary

Fletcher battery (c1900). In 1917 it was described as a new battery to provide the mouth of the Thames with modern heavy armament of 9.2in.BL guns on barbette mountings. The guns were moved here from Slough Fort. A third 9.2in gun emplacement was added to the eastern side of the battery during WW2. The armament remained in active status until 1956 when the guns were withdrawn and the battery abandoned

Grid Reference:TR 0016 7280
Map Sheet:TR07SW
Parish:EASTCHURCH, SWALE, KENT

Monument Types

  • BATTERY (BATTERY, Modern - 1901 AD to 2050 AD)
Protected Status:Listed Building (II) 1445810: Fletcher Battery

Full description

If you do not understand anything on this page please contact us.

Concrete battery for 2x9.2-in. BL guns, with magazines, Battery Observation Post for DPF and 28 ft. Barr and Stroud range finder, War shelter and Gun Commanders Postition. Good condition. Traces of wartime camouflage extant. BOP now used as cafe. (1)

The battery is set back from the cliff edge near Swanley Farm. In most respects it is a typical 9.2in. BL battery with a Battery Observation Post and fire control building alongside. The WW2 emplacement was added to the east side of the original battery. A distinguishing feature was the close defence provision. As well as a ditch and wire enclosure there were concrete pillboxes of a complex curved and clustered plan at either side of the battery.


Importance
15
With the destruction of Ravelin Battery, Sheerness, this is the best preserved 9.2in.BL battery in the Isle of Sheppey and an example of one of the very few coastal batteries to be built during WW1.

Historic importance - C

Structural survival - B


Condition
16
The battery has suffered greatly in recent years in the midst of a holiday caravan park. The earth covering of the magazine behind the WW2 9.2in BL emplacement has been removed as has the earth in front of the BOP. One of the pillboxes seems displaced. There is now little trace of the former close defences. The internal concrete faces of the original emplacements are stripped down and clad in vertical timber boarding.

Current condition - C


Ownership (or tenancy)
17


Use(s) of the site
18
Caravan holiday camp


Statutory protection
19
None


Nature conservation interests
20
SSSI: Sheppey cliffs & foreshore


Public access to the site
21
Access as part of the holiday camp


Relationship to other sites
22
Part of the line of former coastal batteries constructed during the first two decades of the 20th century along the north coast of Sheppey. Ravelin and Warden Point Batteries have gone, leaving the much altered remains of Barton's Point Battery to accompany Fletcher Battery. (2)


<1> Victor Smith and Ron Crowdy, Thames Gateway Assesment: Gazetteer of Defence Sites (Index). SKE6445.

<2> Victor Smith and Andrew Saunders, 2001, Kent's Defence Heritage (Unpublished document). SKE6956.

Sources and further reading

Cross-ref. Source description
<1>Index: Victor Smith and Ron Crowdy. Thames Gateway Assesment: Gazetteer of Defence Sites.
<2>Unpublished document: Victor Smith and Andrew Saunders. 2001. Kent's Defence Heritage.

Related thematic articles