Monument record TQ 77 NW 133 - Heavy Anti Aircraft Battery Thames And Medway Ts14

Battery of 4 x 3 in. guns on temporary site. Concrete bases for guns said to remain below turf. Guardhouse survives (1), site photographs (2,3).. Nothing visible that is obvious as a temporary anti-aircraft site in 2005 (4)

This feature is recorded in the English Heritage Historic Area Assessment for Cliffe parish. The report states: "A number of structures survive from the Second World War, principally an anti-aircraft battery in field in Redham Mead- part of a network of defences either side of the Thames to defend the river approaches to London" (5,6,7)

The site of a Second World War heavy anti-aircraft battery (HAA) at Cliffe seen in a square low-lying field centred at TQ 7206 7784. It was known as both batttery TS14 and TS26. (8)

The buildings, gun emplacement positions and supporting structures such as the road, a slit trench and a possible pillbox were mapped from 1946 RAF aerial photographs and lidar imagery as part of the English Heritage: Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project. Photographs taken in 1947 show the site had already been cleared, with traces of the gun emplacements remaining as four low circular mounds. By 1953 the remains of the site could still be seen, the buildings visible as rectangular footprints, the gun emplacements as pale earthen spreads, and the outline of the support road with its turning loop just visible entering the site from the south-east corner of the field. In the south-western corner is a small building, possibly a concrete pillbox, and to the east of this the earthwork remains of a zig-zag slit trench, possibly used as an air raid shelter could be seen. Slight traces of two of the mounds, the only remnants of the four gun emplacements could be seen on lidar imagery taken in 2001. (9-11)

The earthwork remains of the battery's gun emplacements, as well as concrete floors slabs, demolition debris and the route of the access track, were observed during a site visit to Cliffe Marshes undertaken on 20 October 2011 by English Heritage's Archaeological Survey and Investigation (Cambridge) team as part of the Hoo Peninsula Historic Landscape Project. (12)

<1> Victor Smith and Ron Crowdy, Thames Gateway Assesment: Gazetteer of Defence Sites (Index). SKE6445.

<2> 1947, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9776.

<3> 1941, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10109.

<4> Wessex Archaeology, 2005, North Kent Coast Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey: Phase ll: Field Assessment Year Two Report (Unpublished document). SWX12323.

<5> Historic england, 2014, Hoo Peninsula Outline Historic Area Assessment: Cliffe and Cliffe Woods Parish. Research Report 2014-54 (Bibliographic reference). SKE31591.

<6> English Heritage, 2013, Hoo Peninsula, Kent. Hoo Peninsula Historic Landscape Project (Bibliographic reference). SKE31432.

<7> Historic England, 2012, National Mapping Programme survey: Hoo Peninsula (Digital archive). SKE32442.

<8> Dobinson, C, 1996, Twentieth century fortifications in England, volume 1. Anti-aircraft artillery : England's air defence gunsites, 1914-46 (Monograph). SWX23706.

<9> 2001, LIDAR TQ 7276 Environment Agency D0015732 APR-2001 (Photograph). SKE58731.

<10> RAF, 1946, NMR RAF/106G/UK/1447 1047 01-MAY-1946 (Photograph). SKE58732.

<11> RAF, 1953, NMR RAF/82/713 0499 06-FEB-1953 (Photograph). SKE58733.

<12> English Heritage's Archaeological Survey and Investigation, English Heritage's Archaeological Survey and Investigation (Verbal communication). SKE58734.