From the report: " Canada was among the very first countries to respond to England’s need at the outbreak of the First World War and by February 1915, the area around Saltwood, Kent, was dominated by Canadian troops. 40,000 Canadian Soldiers were training in Shorncliffe, Hythe, Dibgate, East and West Sandling, Westernhanger and Otterpool. Due to the proximity to France, they could be training on one day and be in the trenches on the front by lunchtime on the next….

Soldiers stationed at East and West Sandling Camps, Saltwood, Kent, during the period of the First World War, undertook, as part of their training, ‘Entrenchment’ at Tolsford Hill, the digging of practice trenches before going to the front. Here they would also learn to ‘go over the top’ There is some evidence that trenches were also dug above Folkestone & Hythe purely as a form of ready defence…

There are few available aerial photos of the area and those that are available, show no obvious features. However Michael Dugdale ha adopted a technique of altering gamma, colour saturation and contrast, such that the practice trenches on Tolsford Hill become more evident."

The trenches mostly run east-west along the crest of the hill although a number of communication trenches were also excavated.(1)

Dobson, Geoffrey, 2002, Aerial Photographs of Tolsford Hill (Photograph (Print)). SKE8228.

<1> Michael Dugdale, 2016, Discovery of First World War Practice Trenches, Tolsford Hill, Saltwood, Kent (Unpublished document). SKE31738.