Monument record TQ 77 NW 1021 - Jetty remains on the foreshore, Lower Hope Point, Cliffe

Steel pile & grid structure on the foreshore (remains of Jetty), photographs (1-17).The structure is the remains of a squared wooden pile jetty. The concrete foundation survives on the sea wall and four rows of piles the largest row with six piles are visible. The piles stand up to 5-6m and approximately 0.3m x 0.3m. It has horizontal and diagonal timbers in place. No superstructure survives. The struicture is about 40-50m long, and 30m wide at the surviving river frontage. It may be connected to munitions works? (18)

An early 20th century wooden jetty located at TQ 7165 7897 on the northern side of Lower Hope point, probably associated with the former explosives depot (NMR Monument Number: 1517194). The jetty could be seen on RAF aerial photographs taken in 1941 and 1947, and had been severed to render it useless during a wartime invasion attempt (a common practice during the Second World War). This was mapped from aerial photographs as part of the English Heritage: Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project. (19-20)

A field assessment of the site was undertaken by Kent County Council in 2005 as part of the North Kent Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Project. This recorded a steel pile and grid structure on the foreshore and the remains of a squared wooden pile jetty. The concrete foundation survived on the sea wall with four rows of piles which stood up to 5-6m and approximately 0.3m x 0.3m. It had horizontal and diagonal timbers in place. None of the jetty's superstructure survived. The structure measured about 40-50m long, and 30m wide at the surviving river frontage. (21)

Located about 0.5km north-east of Lower Hope Point on the Thames Estuary, this wooden jetty was constructed in the early 1900s in association with the adjacent former chemical explosives works which remained active until the end of the First World War. It first appears on the 1:2500 Ordnance Survey map of 1908, and was most likely erected after the founding of Curtis’s & Harvey’s explosives factory (uid 1517194) in 1900, and after 1903 when that part of the site was marked as clear for proposed howitzer firing across the marsh. It appears to have been the second of four wooden jetties to be constructed for the purposes of transporting materials to and from the factory by boat. The remains of the jetty and the associated explosives factory were investigated and reported on between 2010 and 2013 as part of English Heritage’s Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project. A coarse concrete foundation with slightly chamfered edges was noted at the foot of the sea wall by authority 3 and by the English Heritage survey and is presumably related to the jetty (centred at TQ 71969 79145). The foundation measures 6.6m x 0.9m in plan and has three small rectangular bitumen witness marks (0.26m x 0.17m) evenly spaced along its surface. (22)

The remains of the wooden structure were photographed from the air in 2011 as part of English Heritage’s Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project. (23)

<1> 1994, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX11003.

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

<3> 1947, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9778.

<4> 1947, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9779.

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

<6> 1941, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10108.

<7> 2000, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10244.

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

<9> 2000, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10276.

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

<11> 1994, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX11004.

<12> 1994, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX11005.

<13> 1994, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX11006.

<14> 1994, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX11011.

<15> 1994, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX11016.

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

<17> 2000, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10258.

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

<19> English Heritage, 2011, NMR 26892 frames 022-023 & 027-028, flight 2857, 08-MAR-2011 (Photograph). SKE58869.

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

<21> Royal Air Force, 1941, NMR RAF/26K/UK/1455 2039 14-MAR-1941 (Photograph). SKE56450.

<22> Wessex Archaeology, 2005, North Kent Coast Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey: Phase ll: Field Assessment Year Two Report (Unpublished document). SWX12323.

<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.