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Monument details

HER Number:MWX43342
Type of record:Monument
Name:WWII enhanced drainage, Minster Marshes

Summary

Freshly constructed banking is visible between the Sea Wall and a field drain on early 1940s RAF vertical aerial photographs. This appears to be a defensive structure, known as “enhanced drainage”, designed to impede landing of enemy aircraft or progress of enemy troops. It appears to have been levelled after the war and is not visible on recent aerial photographs of the area. Several other areas of enhanced drainage are recorded immediately to the south of the Stour in the Ash Levels.


Grid Reference:TR 31491 62882
Map Sheet:TR36SW
Parish:MINSTER, THANET, KENT

Monument Types

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

Full description

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Freshly constructed banking is visible between the Sea Wall and a field drain on early 1940s RAF vertical aerial photographs [1]. This appears to be a defensive structure designed to impede landing of enemy aircraft or progress of enemy troops. It is known as “enhanced drainage” and was created by digging out existing field drains. Several other areas of enhanced drainage are recorded immediately to the south of the Stour in the Ash Levels, see Related Monuments. It appears to have been levelled after the war and is 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2011, South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey - (SE RCZAS) Phase 1: National Mapping Programme Report (Unpublished document).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South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey National Mapping Programme Components 1&2: Results of NMP Mapping (Unpublished document).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

Cross-ref. Source description
<2>Graphic material: Google Earth.
<3>Unpublished document: Cornwall Council Historic Environment Projects and Gloucestershire County Council. 2011.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.
<3>Unpublished document: Wessex Archaeology. 2011. South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey - (SE RCZAS) Phase 1: National Mapping Programme Report.
<3>Digital archive: Wessex Archaeology. 2009-10. South-East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey - Aerial Photographic Transcriptions.

Related records

MWX43337Part of: WWII enhanced drainage, Ash Levels (Monument)