Flanking cleared area around the Stop Line of the section of the Hoo Peninsula Second World War Stop Line, running from the River Medway to Stoke Road, north-east of Hoo St Werburgh. From the English Heritage report on the Second World War Stop Line from Hoo St Werburgh to Higham Marshes.

This shows the flanking cleared areas with the line shown in a separate monument record.

The report notes:
"Aerial photographs taken in 1942 show the line of the anti-tank ditch flanked by a cleared strip of ground from the River Medway at TQ 7925 7169 to the Stoke Road TQ 7904 7282 where it turned north-west towards Kingshill at TQ 7827 7307.

Condition: Aerial photographs indicate parts of the anti-tank ditch were backfilled by May 1944. The line of the ditch where it meets the bank of the River Medway corresponds to an open trench for about 125m. Cropmarks indicate the sub-surface remains of the ditch to the north and south of Abbot's Court Cottages on 2011 and 2013 aerial photographs. A section of the line to the north of Stoke Road was observed on a site visit in 2014. It comprised a back-filled ditch visible as a low earthwork with parchmarkes delineating the banks of either side an earthwork." (1)

Centred at TQ 7904 7282. Part of a Second World War anti tank ditch, constructed in 1940 across the Hoo peninsula from the north bank of the Medway near Hoo St Werburgh to the south bank of the Thames at Higham Creek. The ditch across Hoo (Monument 1542577) was part of the system of GHQ Stop Lines designed to halt or delay the advance of a German invasion force landing in southern and south eastern England.

The section of the anti tank ditch described in this record is the southernmost part, which ran north from the Medway (TQ 7925 7169) to the Stoke road east of Hoo St Werburgh (TQ 7904 7282), where it turned north west towards Kingshill (TQ 7827 7307), covering a total distance of just under two kilometres. On aerial photographs taken in May 1942 this part of the ditch appeared as an open trench at the centre of a cleared strip of ground. Photographs of the more northerly parts of the ditch indicate that the feature had been backfilled by May 1944, although the remains of this southern section were visible as very clear cropmarks in June 2011. The most southerly part of the ditch, where it meets the bank of the Medway (TQ 7925 7175), survives as an open trench for about 125 metres. (2-6)

The other parts of the Stop Line ditch, as well as the many pillboxes, gun emplacements and roadblocks that accompanied it, have been recorded separately. The adjacent section of the Stop Line, to the north, is Monument 1542630. Supporting features associated with this section of the Stop Line include: a line of anti tank cubes on the Medway bank ( Monument 1418690 and 1542799) and two pillboxes also on the Medway bank (Monuments 1418689 and 1418688); two pillboxes on either side of a small track (Monument 1418687, and ??); two pillboxes on either side of the Stoke Road (Monuments 1418686 and 1418685); weapons pits or a pillbox (Monument 1418713); a roadblock (Monument 1418717) on a narrow lane off the Stoke Road; and a pillbox near Street Farm (Monument 1426022).

Several small gun emplacements and weapons pits, not recorded separately, lie at the edges of the cleared strip at TQ 7923 7186, TQ 7868 7284, TQ 7856 7289, TQ 7847 7296, TQ 7842 7298, TQ 7838 7300 and TQ 7836 7301.

The whole anti tank ditch system on Hoo has been mapped from aerial photographs as part of the English Heritage: Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project. (6)

Archive MD003093 Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project: TQ 77 S E Material still held by Aerial Survey.

<1> 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.

<2> RAF, 1942, NMR RAF HLA/542 2066-7 18-MAY-1942 (Photograph). SKE55972.

<3> RAF, 1944, NMR US/7GR/LOC348 2065 27-MAY-1944 (Photograph). SKE55973.

<4> RAF, 2011, NMR 26975 017 01-JUN-2011 (Photograph). SKE55974.

<5> Unknown, 2011, NMR 26887 036 08-03-2011 (Photograph). SKE55975.

<5> 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.

<6> Foot W., 2006, Beaches, fields, streets and hills: the anti-invasion landscape of England, 1940 (Bibliographic reference). SKE55976.