Sunken naval pattern communal air raid shelter.

Concrete steps and lining with earth covering. Chamber flooded.
Owner : Public
Publicly accessible : Yes
How accessed for survey : On verge of Lodge Hill Lane.
Tourism Potential : None.
Condition : moderate
Date of visit : 11/10/06

Start of para (2)
This air raid shelter is mentioned in the English Heritage report on the Second World War Stop Line as part of the defence structures located at the Lodge Hill Anti-Aircraft Battery (Scheduled). The First World War site at Lodge Hill Anti-Aircraft Battery as a whole is recorded at TQ 77 SE 139, and the Second World War site at Lodge Hill as a whole is recorded at TQ 77 SE 1354.

The section of the report containing mention of the air-raid shelter is given below.
- Feature at TQ 7583 7403 – “Second World War defended locality or military installation, centred on the remains of the First World War anti-aircraft battery at Lodge Hill. The site comprised several gun emplacements and military support buildings, probably associated with Light Anti-aircraft positions, within a roughly rectangular barbed wire enclosure covering an area of about 3 ha. in total. It probably formed part of the defences of both Lodge Hill Depot and the stop line. A similar defended locality, also occupying the space between Lodge Hill Depot and the stop line, is located about 800m to the east (NRHE 1546575). The military support buildings some of which appear to have a First World War origin, comprise a row of six or seven temporary structures of various sizes. Additional small gun emplacements or weapons pits were located around the edges of the enclosure. Recorded on aerial photographs dating to between 1944 and 1947. The most substantial gun emplacements were recorded separately (NRHE 1546494, 1546504, and 1546546). A field visit in May 2015, observed the following: a probably entrance to an air raid shelter by the road on the southern edge of the site; a First World War building with a look out turret, possibly reused for a generator during the Second World War when entrances were inserted; building platforms and concrete pathways to the north of the surviving buildings. Possible early post medieval wood banks wood banks extend east from the site. The field to the south was not accessible during the field visit but low earthworks suggest buried remains of structures associated with the Lodge Hill battery. Partly covered by the Scheduled area for Lodge Hill anti-aircraft battery NHLE 1401714.” (2)

MMRG, 10/11/06, Air raid shelter (Photograph). SKE14696.

MMRG, 10/11/06, Air raid shelter (Photograph). Ske14696.

Historic England, 2019, Lodge Hill, Cooling, Medway, First World War Anti-Aircraft Battery (Unpublished document). SKE52317.

<2> historic england, 2014, Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project: Second World War Stop Line: Hoo St Werburgh to Higham Marshes. Research Report 9-2014. (Bibliographic reference). SKE31599.