Monument record TQ 77 NW 1266 - Second World War anti-tank blocks positioned near West Court Farm, Cliffe

A brief mention is made in the 2014 research report on the Second World War stop line that ran from Hoo St Werburgh to Higham Marshes (1). From the report: "Eighteen anti-tank blocks of a moveable type were positioned near West Court Farm, Cliffe at TQ 724 756 (Defence of Britain Project, accessed via Archaeology Data Service) but were not seen on aerial photographs."

However, two rows of blocks can be see on the HER aerial photographs of 1946 just to the south of Salt Lane, on either side of a track running south to West Court Farm. The blocks to the east of the track had gone by 1960, and the ones to the west by 1990 (Google Earth).

18 anti-tank blocks, of a moveable type. Near Westcourt Farm, Cliffe. (1)

These are probably part of the stop line defences which extending across the Hoo peninsula from Hoo St Werburgh to Higham Creek. The stopline was made up of a system man-made defences such as these concrete cubes defended by pillboxes. At points, existing drainage ditches were enlarged and woodland incorporated into the line. Here the quarry pits in the Cliffe Marshes were used as obstructions, and these concrete cubes would have been used to bridge the gap between two quarries associated with the Cliffe Cement works.
No trace of the anti-tank cubes be seen on aerial photographs when the area was surveyed from aerial photographs as part of the English Heritage: Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project. (2)

<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> Council for British Archaeology, 2002, Defence of Britain Project (Digital archive). SKE32029.