Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Three early 20th century searchlight positions.

Monument Types

• SEARCHLIGHT BATTERY (Modern - 1901 AD to 2050 AD)

Full description

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Three searchlight positions. Two built at the time of Langdon Battery in 1898-1909 (eastern and middle one) to light up the eastern arm of the Harbour. The western position was built in WW2. Each searchlight position comprises a semi-circular platform of reinforced concrete, reached by a tunnel at the rear. The tunnel/passage, rectangular in profile, links all three positions. Curved iron shutters on rollers were pulled back to reveal the lights powered by a generator and engine house at the top of the cliff path. In each ceiling there is a pipe for a stove and a pipe for ventilation to remove the heat of the lights. On the walls evidence of cupboards, telephone and other signalling equipment can be identified by the fittings and marks left on the paint work. At the back wall is a recess for a cupboard and further recesses occur in the linking passageway. In the passage to the last searchlight position, the back wall had two holes set inot the chalk at approx 1m height. May have something to do with cabling? On the back wall by the brick work to the cupboard recess is a flattened rectangular area reaching from floor to ceiling. It has four rectangular holes set in a line down the centre with smaller holes off set to the central ones at either side.(1)

<1> Nicola Bannister, 1999, Langdon Cliffs Survey (Unpublished document). SKE6595.

Sources and further reading

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