Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Site of a Second World War heavy anti-aircraft (Diver) battery, deployed here on 30th July 1944. Earthworks which may have formed the basis of this battery were visible on vertical aerial photographs of 1946 just to the north of the New Romney Sewage Works. These features were mapped from aerial photographs as part of the South East RCZAS NMP project.

Monument Types

• ANTI AIRCRAFT BATTERY (Modern - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• ANTI AIRCRAFT GUN EMPLACEMENT (Modern - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• DIVER BATTERY (Modern - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)

Full description

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Site of Second World War heavy anti aircraft (Diver) battery at St Mary in the Marsh, deployed here on 30th July

1944. It was armed with four mobile 90mm guns, and was manned by 125 Battalion of the USAAF. This formed part

of the Littlestone Section of American Anti Aircraft Mobile Battalion Heavy Anti Aircraft Artillery (1).

The earthworks which may have formed the basic structure of a Second World War anti-aircraft battery are centred at TR 0733 2413, approximately 70m from the northern edge of the sewage works in 1946. It should be noted that the location of these earthworks, as well as the grid reference noted by the previous authority, fall within the civil parish of New Romney, not St Mary in the Marsh. The remains of the anti-aircraft battery extend across an area measuring 132m east to west, and 122m north to south.

The main identifying feature of the earthworks is a group of four small banked enclosures, in a curvilinear arrangement facing the coast. They are all of a similar size and rectilinear shape, and measure roughly 16m across. It is thought these banked enclosures may have been the positions of the four mobile 90mm guns mentioned above. A few smaller fragments of banks lie just to the north-east of these four enclosures, and are thought to be the remains of ancillary structures associated with the battery.

Another record exists for a second anti-aircraft battery just to the WSW of this location (Monument Number 1477741). Both of these records were originally located from documentary sources, and therefore may not precisely match remains on the ground. It is possible that neither record in fact relates to the possible anti-aircraft battery identified on aerial photographs, although this record is thought to be the most likely correlation. Alternatively, this record and Monument Number 1477741 may duplicate one another.

By the time of the next available vertical aerial photograph of 1959; all traces of the anti-aircraft battery appear to have been removed (2-3).

<1> Dobinson, C., Operation Diver : England's Defence Against the Flying Bomb, June 1944-March 1945, pp 197 (Monograph). SWX23707.

<2> 1946, NMR CPE/UK/1752 4002-3 21-SEPT-1946 (Photograph). SWX23760.

<3> RAF, 1959, NMR RAF/58/2778 0199-0200 01-MAY-1959 (Photograph). SWX23876.

Sources and further reading

Related records