Part of Hoo Peninsula Stop Line from Lodge Hill to Wybornes Wood, Hoo Peninsula as reported in the English Heritage report on the Second World War Stop Line from Hoo St Werburgh to Higham Marshes. The Stop Line was an integrated series of natural and manmade anti-invasion defences including anti-tank ditches, earth banking, pillboxes and anti-tank guns. The separate elements are reported in separate monument records.

Report states: "This section skirted the east side of Lodge Hill Ordnance Depot (NRHE 1077634) from the east gate of the depot at TQ 7739 7382 to the northeastern corner of Wybornes Wood at TQ 7715 7459 for a distance of 715m. Aerial photographs of 1944 show Wybornes Wood was used as part of the defensive line. There is no evidence of significant tree felling or re-growth before 1944 suggesting there was no anti-tank ditch through Wybornes Wood. Pillboxes were placed along the northern edge of the wood, overlooking the marshes. Several small gun emplacements and weapons pits were located at the edge of the cleared strip around the anti-tank ditch.

The earliest aerial photographs taken in 1944 show this section of anti-tank ditch was already out of use and being back-filled with mounds of earth visible alongside the former ditch. Sub-surface remains of sections of the ditch were indicated by cropmarks in pasture on aerial photographs of 2003 to the south of Wybornes Wood. There is intermittent evidence of a spread ditch in the area between the south east corner of Wybornes Wood and the First World War redoubt and pillbox to the south (observation from field visit in May 2015). (1)

Centred at TQ 7733 7430. 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 (Monument 1542577). The ditch across Hoo 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. (1)

The section described in this record ran along the east side of Lodge Hill Ordnance Depot (Monument 1077634) from the east gate of the depot at TQ 7739 7382 to the north eastern corner of Wybornes Wood at TQ 7715 7459, a distance of 715 metres. The first aerial photographs of this section, taken in 1944, show this section already out of use and being backfilled, with mounds of earth visible alongside the former ditch.

It is clear from the 1944 aerial photographs that the anti tank ditch did not continue through Wybornes Wood. The wood was instead utilised as part of the defensive line for a distance of 390.5 metres and there is no evidence of significant tree felling and regrowth before 1944. Pillboxes were placed along the northern edge of the wood, overlooking the marshes. (2-3)

The other parts of the Stop Line ditch, as well as many pillboxes, gun emplacements and roadblocks that accompanied it, have been recorded separately (adjacent Stop Line sections are Monuments 1542630 to the south, and 1542665 to the west). Supporting defensive features associated with this section of the Stop Line include: a roadblock and pillbox directly in front of the entrance to the depot (roadblock Monument 1426742; pillbox 1544248); a pillbox midway along this section at TQ 7730 7426 (Monument 1426121); a pillbox at the northern end of this section where the ditch meets the edge of Wybornes Wood (Monument 1426114); and a pillbox approximately midway along the northern edge of Wybornes Wood at TQ 7700 7457 (Monument 1426124). Several small gun emplacements and weapons pits lying at the edge of the cleared strip at TQ 7736 7412 have not been recorded separately.

The whole anti tank ditch system on Hoo has been mapped from aerial photographs as part of the English Heritage: Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project. (1)

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

<3> RAF, 1947, NMR RAF/CPE/UK/1923 4081 16-JAN-1947 (Photograph). SKE55977.

<4> Foot W., 2006, Beaches, fields, streets and hills: the anti-invasion landscape of England, 1940 (Bibliographic reference). SKE55976.