Monument record TQ 96 NW 132 - Second World War searchlight emplacement, Kemsley

A searchlight emplacement was established on the playing fields at Kemsley in 1940. It was manned by the 313 Anti-Aircraft Company of the Territorial Army Royal Engineers, 29th Battalion. Nissen huts were used on the site and may have been used as emergency housing after the war. (1)

The site of a Second World War searchlight battery, this was known as searchlight battery no. HC04 1 located at Kemsley at TQ 908661. It was manned by 322 Searchlight Battery. It was operational by 14-OCT-1941. (2)

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. During the Second World War searchlights were manned by the Royal Artillery and were under the control of the Army's Anti-Aircraft Command. (3)

<1> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2008, Kemsley Paper Mill, Milton Regis, Nr. Sittingbourne, Kent, The Air Raid Shelter: An architectural description and documentary study (Unpublished document). SKE24027.

<2> CBA Twentieth Century Fortifications in England Supporting paper AA/1 Searchlight Sites in WWII A sample List (Bibliographic reference). SKE15307.

<3> Lowry (ed), 1995, 20th century defences in Britain : an introductory guide (Bibliographic reference). SKE56150.