Monument record TQ 77 NW 1020 - Jetty remains, on the foreshore by Lower Hope Point, Cliffe

Steel pile and grid structure on the foreshore (remains of Jetty) photgraphs (1-17). Jetty consisting of wooden piles and iron fittings. It stands about 8 m high. A U-shaped structure, about 50m x 30m. Double row of piles with crossbeams on the top. Piles are additionally fixed with diagonally crossing angled cross beams. The diameter of the piles is 0.4m x 0.4m. Parts of flooring of the jetty are still on top though much of it has fallen into the mud. (18)

A former late 19th-early 20th century pier or jetty located at TQ 7140 7857, immediately to the south of Lower Hope Point on the Hoo Peninsula. It is probably associated with the Cliffe explosives depot (NMR Monument Number: 1517194). Though not marked on the earlier Ordnance Survey maps (including the 4th edition of 1939) the pier is clearly visible on RAF aerial photographs taken in 1941 and 1947. The jetty consists of a narrow pier leading to a perpendicular jetty structure parallel to the shoreline with three landward extensions. The aerial photographs are taken within the period of the Second World War and clearly show the jetty severed to render it useless in the event of invasion, a common practice during the war. Recent aerial photographs on Google Earth dated April 2007 show the remnants of the jetty structure (posts, piles and plank decking) in the estuary mud. (19-21)

Located about 280m south-west of Lower Hope Point on the Thames Estuary, this wooden jetty was probably constructed in the second decade of the 1900s in association with the adjacent site of Curtis’s & Harvey Ltd.’s former chemical explosives works which remained active until the end of the First World War. It appears to have been the largest of four wooden jetties to be constructed for the purposes of transporting materials to and from the factory by boat (23). A field assessment of the site was undertaken by Kent County Council in 2005 as part of the North Kent Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey (RCZAS) which recorded the remains as monument ‘WX17744’: a steel pile and grid structure on the foreshore, consisting of wooden piles and iron fittings (24). It is a large and fairly complex structure, overall covering an area of about 50m x 30m, with a three-pronged layout in plan with two east-west jetties joined by A north-south landing stage on the forms its river frontage, with three jetties running east from it. The two more southerly jetty segments are formed by three parallel rows of squared wooden piles, whereas the northern stretch is narrower and comprises only two rows of piles. The rows of piles are topped with long beams supporting a flooring of horizontal wooden planks, and the piles are fixed with diagonally set angled crossbeams. The structure stands to some 8m in height, though the southern stretch appears to be lower than the rest of the complex. Although the form of the surviving elements gives the impression that the narrow northern stretch of the jetty linked the landing stages to the shore, reconstruction of the full structure from historic aerial photographs shows that it was actually the southern arm of the jetty that provided connection to the factory. As part of English Heritage’s Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project the remains of the wooden structure were photographed from the air in 2011 (25) and the jetty and the associated explosives factory were investigated and reported on between 2010 and 2013 (4a). (22)

<1> 1994, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX11002.

<2> 1946, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9634.

<3> 1946, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9635.

<4> 1947, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9775.

<5> 1944, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10069.

<6> 1941, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10109.

<7> 2000, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10245.

<8> 1946, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9466.

<9> 1994, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX11000.

<10> 1994, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX11062.

<11> 1994, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX11003.

<12> 1994, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX11004.

<13> 1994, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX11005.

<14> 1994, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX11006.

<15> 1994, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX11011.

<16> 1994, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX11017.

<17> 2000, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10275.

<18> Wessex Archaeology, 2005, North Kent Coast Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey: Phase ll: Field Assessment Year Two Report (Unpublished document). SWX12323.

<19> Royal Air Force, 1941, NMR RAF/26K/UK/1455 2039 14-MAR-1941 (Photograph). SKE56450.

<20> Royal Air Force, 1947, Aerial photo: NMR RAF/CPE/UK/2065 3111 14-MAY-1947 (Photograph). SKE56451.

<21> EARTH.GOOGLE.COM, 2011, EARTH.GOOGLE.COM 21-APR-2007 ACCESSED 01-MAR-2011 (Photograph). SKE58860.

<22> 2011, 21-JAN-2011/EH (during investigation of the adjacent explosives factory remains) (Verbal communication). SKE58861.

<23> English Heritage, 2013, Curtis's and Harvey Ltd Explosives Factory, Cliffe and Cliffe Woods, Medway. Archaeological Survey and Analysis of the Factory Remains Volume 2 of 2. (Bibliographic reference). SKE31442.

<24> Wessex Archaeology, 2006, North Kent Coast Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey Phase II: field assessment year two, final report (Unpublished document). SKE58862.

<25> English Heritage, 2011, NMR 26891 frames 042-044, flight 2857, 08-MAR-2011 (Photograph). SKE58863.