The site has three areas of unconnected trenches, possibly representing different episodes of training. This description is partially based on the 1989 RCHME National Mapping Programme (NMP) pilot study of Kent, which provides basic mapping of the site, although it takes into account parts of the site evident in later aerial photographs.
The largest group of trenches is a complex occupying approximately 10.14 hectares of the western half of the down. It consists of a series of at least six crenellated trenches running east/west for approximately 610m, following the contour of the crest of the hill, with a group of zig-zagged trenches running north/south, probably representing communications trenches. There are also a number of regularly arranged mock-shell craters in linear arrangements, which suggests that they were either dug manually, or were the result of carefully controlled explosions. It appears that some of the crenellated trenches are cutting each other, and that therefore some of the trenches were backfilled during the period Tolsford was used for training. This practice has also been noted at Cannock Chase, Staffordshire.
The smallest ‘group’ of trenches are a pair of isolated trenches on the north-facing spur of the down north of this main group, neither of which were recorded in the NMP. The trench to the west is better preserved, and consists of a T-shaped group of zig-zagged trenches, running approximately 50m north-east/south-west, with a separate arm running approximately 25m east/west. The second trench on the adjacent spur to the east, is approximately 70m long, with curved traverses. The form of this trench is clearest from the 1940 aerial photographs on Google Earth, although more recent satellite imagery suggests that it still survives as very low earthworks.
The group on the eastern side of the down survive as low earthworks but are more poorly preserved, and there is more scrub-like vegetation obscuring features. It consists of irregularly arranged crenellated trenches running for approximately 440m east-west, with a circular earthwork in the middle of this trench of approximately 30m diameter that may be a gun emplacement. Whilst the crenellated trenching follows standard practice, the overall layout does not; it may represent some kind of redoubt system.
From 1915, the Canadian Training Division was based at nearby Shorncliffe and several adjacent camps were established for Canadian troops. The trenches at Tolsford Hill were associated with the camps at East and West Sandling, which were established in Autumn 1914 primarily for training battalions of the Canadian Expeditionary Forces.
There are direct references to the creation and use of the trenches themselves by the Canadian Expeditionary Force in the War Training Diaries for specific battalions. There are also photographs from Sergeant Joseph Thomas Dutton of the 21st Battalion, showing the trenches in use. A number of letters from individuals who trained at the Sandling Camps, including Vincent MacCarter Eastwood (attached to the 39th Battalion), and Private Sidney Brook of the 17th Reserve Battalion make fleeting references to the trench system. (1)

<1> Historic England, 2018, HE0045-Review of FWW Fieldworks Project Documents (HE Archive AF00421) (Unpublished document). SKE55725.