Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Freshly constructed banking is visible flanking field drains on early 1940s RAF vertical aerial photographs. These appear to be defensive structures, known as “enhanced drainage”, designed to impede landing of enemy aircraft or progress of enemy troops. They appear to have been levelled after the war and are not visible on recent aerial photographs of the area. Several other areas of enhanced drainage are recorded in the Ash Levels.

Monument Types

• DEFENCE WORK (Modern - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)

Full description

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Freshly constructed banking is visible flanking field drains on early 1940s RAF vertical aerial photographs [1]. These appear to be defensive structures designed to impede landing of enemy aircraft or progress of enemy troops. They are known as “enhanced drainage” and were created by digging out existing field drains. Several other areas of enhanced drainage are recorded in the Ash Levels, see Related Monuments. They appear to have been levelled after the war and are not visible on recent aerial photographs of the area [2].

A transcription of the features recorded from aerial photography exists within a GIS layer held by this HER [3].

<2> Google Earth (Graphic material). SWX15704.

<3> Wessex Archaeology, 2009-10, South-East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey - Aerial Photographic Transcriptions (Digital archive). SWX15705.

<3> Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey - (SE RCZAS) Phase 1: National Mapping Programme Report (Unpublished document). SKE25955.

<3> Cornwall Council Historic Environment Projects and Gloucestershire County Council, 2011, South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey National Mapping Programme Components 1&2: Results of NMP Mapping (Unpublished document). SKE25954.

Sources and further reading

Related records