Monument record TR 16 SW 128 - Searchlight Battery Hc04 5

Summary

The site of Second World War searchlight battery no. HC04 5 (old number HC05 5) at Tyler Hill. It was manned by 508 Searchlight Battery under the command of 28 Searchlight Regiment. The battery was operational by 14th October 1941. Large-scale re-organisation of the searchlight layout in Kent required the withdrawal of 313 SL Bty from the area and the taking over of its sites by 322 SL Bty together with the introduction of three batteries (314, 468 and 508). Sites occupied by these three batteries were renumbered.Searchlight sites typically comprised a small ring-ditch to provide the crew with shelter during an air raid, a predictor emplacement for calculating the height and range of targets, a light anti-aircraft machine gun pit, a generator and hutted accommodation for the crew.

Location

Grid reference TR 1336 6131 (point)
Map sheet TR16SW
County KENT
District CANTERBURY, KENT
Civil Parish ST COSMUS AND ST DAMIAN IN THE BLEAN, CANTERBURY, KENT

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Type and Period (1)

Full Description

By early January 1940 there was a searchlight emplacement (designated ‘D.F.3.1’) in Blean, near Tyler Hill. It was manned by 508 Searchlight Battery. By late 1941 it was listed as a cluster site, with a satellite emplacement at Canterbury, near the present Churchill Road. By this time seems to have been redesignated ‘HG 055’. This may be visible on immediate post-war aerial photographs as a scar, at the end of a track, mid-way along the north-east edge of a field opposite Hothe Court Farm. This field also contained a large, anti-aircraft battery.
Owner : Private
Publicly accessible : Unknown
How accessed for survey :
Tourism Potential :
Condition : unknown
Date of visit :


29 Searchlight Regiment Royal Artillery, 01/01/41, War Diary 29 Searchlight Regiment Royal Artillery (Unpublished document). SKE15229.

29 Searchlight Regiment Royal Artillery, 01/01/41, War Diary 29 Searchlight Regiment Royal Artillery (Unpublished document). Ske15229.

43 Division General Staff, 01/01/41, War Diary 43 Division General Staff (Unpublished document). SKE15231.

43 Division General Staff, 01/01/41, War Diary 43 Division General Staff (Unpublished document). Ske15231.

Dobinson, C, 2000, CBA Twentieth Century Fortifications in England Supporting paper AA/1 Searchlight Sites in WWII A sample List (Bibliographic reference). SKE15230.

Dobinson, C, 2000, CBA Twentieth Century Fortifications in England Supporting paper AA/1 Searchlight Sites in WWII A sample List (Bibliographic reference). Ske15230.

Sources/Archives (6)

  • --- Unpublished document: 29 Searchlight Regiment Royal Artillery. 01/01/41. War Diary 29 Searchlight Regiment Royal Artillery.
  • --- Unpublished document: 29 Searchlight Regiment Royal Artillery. 01/01/41. War Diary 29 Searchlight Regiment Royal Artillery.
  • --- Bibliographic reference: Dobinson, C. 2000. CBA Twentieth Century Fortifications in England Supporting paper AA/1 Searchlight Sites in WWII A sample List.
  • --- Bibliographic reference: Dobinson, C. 2000. CBA Twentieth Century Fortifications in England Supporting paper AA/1 Searchlight Sites in WWII A sample List.
  • --- Unpublished document: 43 Division General Staff. 01/01/41. War Diary 43 Division General Staff.
  • --- Unpublished document: 43 Division General Staff. 01/01/41. War Diary 43 Division General Staff.

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Record last edited

Jan 29 2025 11:26AM