Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Lines of features are visible adjacent to a probable road block at Woodnesborough Gate, Sandwich, on 1942 aerial photographs. No traces of the features were visible on later 1940s RAF aerial photography. It seems likely that they are related to WWII defences and it has been suggested that they may indicate disturbed ground from a freshly laid minefield.

Monument Types

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

Full description

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Lines of features are visible adjacent to a probable road block (MWX43421) at Woodnesborough Gate, Sandwich, on 1942 RAF vertical aerial photographs [1]. They were only seen on this sortie of photographs and no traces of the features were visible on later 1940s RAF aerial photography [2]. They lie either side of Woodnesborough Road between the Town Ditch and Town Wall.

The features appear roughly circular, measure c.1m in diameter and are spaced at intervals of c.1m. The lines of features are spaced c.1m apart and are offset resulting in a checker-board appearance. To the north of the road at least three parallel lines of features are visible, these appear to be discontinuous but these gaps may be due to shadows from trees adjacent to the Town Ditch. South of the road at least four parallel lines of features are visible. The nature of these features is highly unclear as, when viewed with a Stereoscope they have no obvious sense of height or depth.

Two other examples of these features are visible on the same sortie (MWX43420, MWX43424), these are also adjacent to probable roadblocks on the main entrances to the town (MWX43418, MWX43423). With this association, it seems likely that they are related to WWII defences. It has been suggested that they may indicate disturbed ground from laying of minefields; this may explain why they are not visible on later photographs as they would have grassed over again by this point. The features could, however, equally be stacks of building material.

A transcription of the features recorded from aerial photography exists within a GIS layer held by this HER [3]. In this transcription they have been drawn as lines of anti-tank cubes as that convention is the closest visual equivalent to the appearance of these features.

<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

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