Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

A WWI camp site, part of Richborough Port, a major WWI port serving allied troops on the Western Front. The site appears to have been reused for military purposes in WWII. Although parts of the site were extensively redeveloped in the early 21st century, there appear to be some buildings surviving in commercial use within the industrial estate that now occupies the southern end of the site.

Monument Types

• MILITARY CAMP (Modern - 1916 AD? to 1922 AD?)

Full description

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Owner : Private
Publicly accessible : No
How accessed for survey :
Tourism Potential :
Condition : Destroyed
Date of visit : 07/07/07

Amended description following Phase 1 of the South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey: A military camp originally constructed in WWI [1]. It appears to have been composed of wooden huts and was part of Richborough Port (MWX43487), a major WWI port serving allied troops on the Western Front. Please see MWX43487 for details of the site as a whole.

Although decommissioned following WWI, the camp buildings were still in existence by WWII when the site appears to have been reused for military purposes as activity is visible on RAF vertical aerial photographs taken in the early 1940s [2]. The camp appears to have functioned as a combined operations training base, known as HMS Robertson, in the run-up to D-Day [3]. This was a holding base for Royal Marines landing craft personnel and a minor landing craft base which was commissioned on 23/6/43 and paid off on 31/8/46 [3].

Although most of the site was extensively redeveloped in the early 21st century, there appear to be some buildings surviving in commercial use within the industrial estate that now occupies the southern end of the site, visible on recent aerial photography [3].

Robert Butler, Richborough Port (Bibliographic reference). SKE14151.

<1> Robert Butler, Richborough Port (Bibliographic reference). Ske14151.

<3> General websites from the Internet, http://www.combinedops.com/Training%20EST%20UK.htm#HMS Robertson (Unpublished document). SWX15706.

<4> Next Perspectives consortium via English Heritage, 2003, 2007, Next Perspective PGA georeferenced aerial photograph data, PGA_TR3359_2003-08-14.jpg (Graphic material). SWX15711.

Sources and further reading

Related records