Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

A train ferry dock built as part of Richborough Port in 1917. This used a roll-on-roll-off system to transfer carriages of equipment directly from the British to the French rail network. It was decommissioned following WWI, and an attempt was made to run it as commercial port. This was unsuccessful and the facility was brought back in to military use in WWII, playing a particular role in the D-Day landings. The site has been extensively redeveloped in the late 20th century and there are now few visible remains of the dock. Recent aerial photography indicates that there are some surviving features along the riverward side of the site, mainly sections of jetty.

Monument Types

• DOCK (Modern - 1916 AD? to 1922 AD?)

Full description

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Owner : Privats show the areas arounfd the dock as
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 train ferry dock built as part of Richborough Port (MWX43487), a major WWI port serving allied troops on the Western Front. When the port was built in 1916 it initially used conventionally loaded barges but by 1917 greater speed of transport was required and a train ferry dock was built [1]. This used a roll-on-roll-off system whereby carriages of equipment could be transferred direct from the British rail network onto the ferry and thence to the French rail network and the front without loading and unloading at the docks.

The train ferry dock was decommissioned following WWI, and an attempt was made to run it as commercial port by the Queenborough Development Co. [1]. This enterprise was unsuccessful and the facility was brought back in to military use in WWII. The dock and associated sidings appear to have been particularly associated with the preparations for the D-Day landings. RAF vertical aerial Photographs taken in the early 1940s show relatively little activity in this area [2], however this had changed by the spring of 1944. A US Air Force vertical aerial photograph taken in April 1944 shows a bustling facility with its sidings full of carriages and landing craft and also extra pontoon jetties constructed along the dock side [3]. The activity at the dock tailed-off again in the immediate post-war period, RAF vertical aerial photographs taken in 1946 show only limited activity at the site and that the extra jetties had been removed [4].

The site has been extensively redeveloped in the late 20th century and there are now few visible remains of the train ferry dock. Recent vertical aerial photography indicates that there are some surviving features along the riverward side of the site, mainly between mean low and high water levels, composed of sections of jetty and perhaps a section of the WWI rail line [5-6].

<1> Robert Butler, 01/01/99, Richborough Port (Bibliographic reference). SKE14155.

<5> Next Perspectives consortium via English Heritage, 2003, 2007, Next Perspective PGA georeferenced aerial photograph data, PGA_TR3361_2003-08-14.jpg (Graphic material). SWX15711.

<6> Next Perspectives consortium via English Heritage, 2003, 2007, Next Perspective PGA georeferenced aerial photograph data, PGA_TR3362_2003-08-14.jpg (Graphic material). SWX15711.

Sources and further reading

Related records