Monument record TQ 84 SW 26 - Site of Royal Observer Corps (ROC) Underground Monitoring Post, Headcorn

A Royal Observer Corps monitoring post. The site is located on a footpath in the middle of a field to the east of Black Mill Lane. The site was built as part of an extensive network of posts designed to confirm and report hostile aircraft and nuclear attacks on the United Kingdom. At the time of the Defence of Britain survey (1995-2002) the site was found to have been destroyed. The site was opened during November 1961 and closed in October 1968. (1-2)

Visible as a new structure, with disturbed ground around the site and an access route across the field from the north, on aerial photos of 1961. Aerial photos of 1967 possibly appear to show the site disused. The site had been cleared by 1972.

<1> Kent Defence Research Group, 1999, Ravelin Special No.8 The Royal Observer Corps: Underground in Kent & Essex (Monograph). SKE7996.

<2> Council for British Archaeology, 2002, Defence of Britain Project (Digital archive). SKE32029.