Building record TQ 87 NE 1100 - Engine House

Concrete and brick, flat roof utility style building. Currently use as store by the Environment Agency.
Owner : Public
Publicly accessible : Yes
How accessed for survey : On sea wall footpath.
Tourism Potential : Limited.
Condition : moderate
Date of visit : 07/02/14

TQ 8925 7605: Probable engine room for coast artillery searchlights, of Second World War date.

A large circular tank formerly stood just to the north of this building, possibly holding fuel oil for generators (1a). However, the building itself appears to be built on the site of an earlier structure, visible on air photographs, which may have also been an engine room providing power to searchlights but also housing a heavy winch for tensioning the Medway Boom which formerly stretched between the shore here and Grain Tower (1b).

The building is in good condition and well-maintained; a four-bay rectangular structure in brick and concrete with a flat concrete roof: the bays are of brick between concrete pillars. The south elevation is the main one, with twin heavy steel doors, three windows and ventilators at high level. The eastern end wall has a single steel door, the western wall two windows while the north elevation has only ventilators.

The building was surveyed by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England between March and April of 1998, following a request by Kent County Council as part of a European project looking at defence sites in Kent, Nord-Pas de Calais and West Flanders. See archive report and plans. (1)

The remains of the probable engine room for coast artillery searchlights were seen at TQ 8925 7605, just above the beach opposite the Grain Tower. The building appears as a single storey flat-roofed structure. Aerial photographs taken in 1942 show the building and an adjacent possible fuel tank which no longer exists. Other contemporary structures including the searchlight were enclosed within a trapezoidal double barbed wire enclosure.
These and surrounding features were mapped from aerial photographs as part of the English Heritage: Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project. (2)

Army., 01/01/41, Fixed Defences Thames and Medway. (Collection). SKE14368.

Army., 01/01/41, Fixed Defences Thames and Medway. (Collection). Ske14368.

MMRG, 07/01/14, Engine house (Photograph). SKE14633.

MMRG, 07/01/14, Engine house (Photograph). Ske14633.