This feature is recorded in the English Heritage report on the Second World War Stop Line in the Hoo Peninsula. This section runs from Lodge Hill Wood to Berry Court Wood. The report states: "This section of the stop line was positioned mid-slope on the north side of the Deangate Ridge, beyond the north boundary of Lodge Hill Ordnance Depot (NRHE 1077634). It followed a sharply angled course for 714m between Lodge Hill Wood and Berry Court Wood (TQ 7591 7425 to TQ 7529 7402). The anti-tank ditch is between 40m and 45m above Ordnance Datum (OD) downslope from the highest point (70m above OD) where there was a Second World War defended locality, on the site of Lodge Hill First World War anti-aircraft battery. It is clear from the 1944 aerial photographs that the anti-tank ditch did not continue through either Lodge Hill Wood or Berry Court Wood. The woods were therefore part of the defensive lines and pillboxes were placed along their northern edges, overlooking the marshes and lowland to the north. Small weapons pits were located near the east end of this part of the line (at TQ 7576 7423 and TQ 7572 7417).
Condition: The earliest photographs taken in 1944 show the backfilled anti-tank ditch and there are mounds of earth lying alongside. However, the route of the stop line is still discernible as a vegetation pattern on 2003 Google Earth aerial photographs. Later aerial photographs show the scrubby trees are denser but you can still make out an earthwork. A concrete pathway seen on a field visit in 2014 in Berry Court Wood may be a military track. (1)

Centred at TQ 7560 7410. 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 of the anti tank ditch described in this record ran parallel with the north boundary of Lodge Hill Ordnance Depot (Monument 1077634) on the north side of Deangate Ridge. It followed a sharply angled course for 714 metres along the north facing slope of Rough Shaw, between Lodge Hill Wood and Berry Court Wood (TQ 7591 7425 to TQ 7529 7402). The woods were also incorporated as part of the defensive line. This part of the anti tank ditch is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs although the first photographs, taken in 1944, show this section already out of use and being backfilled, with mounds of earth lying alongside the former ditch.

It is clear from the 1944 aerial photographs that the anti tank ditch did not continue through either Lodge Hill Wood or Berry Court Wood. The woods were instead utilised as part of the defensive line for a distance of 510 metres in Lodge Hill Wood and 616 metres in Berry Court Wood. There is no evidence of significant tree felling and regrowth before 1944 in either wood, and pillboxes were placed along the northern edge of both woods, overlooking the marshes and lowland to the north. (2-4)

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. Adjacent Stop Line sections are Monuments 1542665, to the east, and 1542694, to the west). Supporting defensive features associated with this section of the Stop Line include: a pillbox at TQ 7591 7427, where the anti tank ditch meets the west side of Lodge Hill Wood (Monument 1543787); a pillbox on the slope of Rough Shaw near the centre of this section of ditch at TQ 7554 7403 (Monument 1426721); and a number of small weapons pits near the east end pf this part of the ditch (at TQ 7576 7423 and TQ 7572 7417). Pillboxes were also positioned along the north edge of Lodge Hill Wood (Monuments 1426723 and 1426722) and Berry Court Wood (Monuments 1418703; 1544162; 1544121, 1544122, 1418676).

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> USAAF?, 1944, NMR US/7GR/LOC348 3062 27-MAY-1944 (Photograph). SKE55978.

<4> RAF, 1953, NMR RAF/82/732 0118 23-FEB-1953 (Photograph). SKE55979.

<5> Foot W., 2006, Beaches, fields, streets and hills: the anti-invasion landscape of England, 1940 (Bibliographic reference). SKE55976.