Monument record TQ 87 NE 1204 - Second World War underground fuel storage tanks

Second World War underground fuel storage tanks can be seen on aerial photographs taken in 1946. These tanks were constructed early in the war can be seen on aerial photographs taken in 1942. The site consisted of 22 cylindrical storage tanks in four groups each buried under a mound of soil in an attempt to camouflage the site. The southern, south western and south eastern sides of the site are defined by an earthwork embankment. There was a group of associated buildings to the south at TQ 8757 7527. This was the third fuel storage site on the Isle of Grain and elements of these other sites may also date to the Second World War (see also Medway Oil and Storage Company NMR 1540706 and Admiralty fuel oil station NMR 1540697). Fuel stored on Grain was fed into the PLUTO pipeline, a Second World War pipeline laid under the English Channel to supply the Allied armies on the continent. After the war this site was incorporated into the BP refinery on Grain and eventually demolished with the rest of the refinery after its closure in 1982. This site was mapped from aerial photographs as part of the English Heritage: Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project.(1-4)

<1> RAF, 1946, RAF 106G/UK/1444 4028-4029 1-MAY-1946 (Photograph). SKE55949.

<2> RAF, 1942, RAF/26/UK920 29 23-MAR-1942 (Photograph). SKE58913.

<3> Adrian Searle, 1995, Pluto : pipe-line under the ocean. The definitive story (Bibliographic reference). SKE58914.

<4> EARTH.GOOGLE.COM, 2003, EARTH.GOOGLE.COM 31-DEC-2003 ACCESSED 14-JUN-2011 (Photograph). SKE58915.