Monument record TQ 77 SE 1483 - A probable Second World War bomb crater, first visible as earthworks on aerial photographs taken in May 1944

A probable Second World War bomb crater, first visible as earthworks on aerial photographs taken in May 1944, has been mapped as part of the English Heritage: Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project. The feature appears as a crater surrounded by an area of up cast disturbed earth 19m in diameter. It is located just outside the southern perimeter of the Lodge Hill Armaments Depot. The modern Ordnance Survey map shows a pond at this location, which is not depicted on the historic maps. This crater may be evidence of an (apparently minor) air raid on Lodge Hill which took place on the night of 7-8 May 1942, and may be associated with other craters located in the vicinity of the south western part of Lodge Hill Depot. (1)

<1> USAAF?, 1944, NMR US/7GR/LOC348 2064-5 27-MAY-1944 (Photograph). SKE56027.

<2> National Monuments Record, 1952, NMR RAF 540/731 4040 15-MAY-1952 (Photograph). SKE58642.

<3> Ordinance Survey, 1933, Ordnance Survey 1:2,500 map, 1933 (Map). SKE58643.

<4> Historic England, Archive material (Archive). SKE58363.