Monument record TQ 77 NW 1066 - Jetty, by Lower Hope Point, Cliffe

Jetty marked on the 3rd ed OS map (1). Fifteen squared wooden piles are still visible, they are about. 0.3m x 0.3 m, and 0.5m - 1m m high. There are five rows of the piles extending into river for 30m. (2)

An early 20th century wooden jetty located at TQ 7165 7897on 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. (3-4)

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 survey noted fifteen squared wooden piles still visible, measuring about. 0.3m x 0.3 m, and 0.5m-1m high, with five rows of the piles extending into river for 30m. (5)

This wooden jetty was constructed around 1892-3 by Hay, Merricks & Co in association with their adjacent gunpowder depot. It first appears on the 1:2500 Ordnance Survey map of 1897, shown with a purpose-built tramway connecting it to Hay, Merricks & Co’s original gunpowder magazines. Subsequent depiction on the 1:2500 Ordnance Survey map of 1908 shows that the jetty continued to be used after the site had been acquired by Curtis’s & Harvey Ltd in 1898 for development of what would become an extensive chemical explosives factory (uid 1517194); by this time several buildings had been erected along the inside of the sea wall in this area, presumably associated with the factory’s loading and unloading activities at this jetty. 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. (6)

<1> Ordnance Survey, 1905-10, Ordnance Survey 1:2500 3rd edition: 1901-1912 (Map). SWX11833.

<2> Wessex Archaeology, 2005, North Kent Coast Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey: Phase ll: Field Assessment Year Two Report (Unpublished document). SWX12323.

<3> Royal Air Force, 1941, NMR RAF/26K/UK/1455 2039 14-MAR-1941 (Photograph). SKE56450.

<4> Royal Air Force, 1947, Aerial photo: NMR RAF/CPE/UK/2065 3111 14-MAY-1947 (Photograph). SKE56451.

<5> Wessex Archaeology, 2005, North Kent Coast Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey: Phase ll: Field Assessment Year One report (Unpublished document). SWX12121.

<6> English Heritage, 2013, Curtis's and Harvey Ltd Explosives Factory, Cliffe and Cliffe Woods, Medway. Archaeological Survey and Analysis of the Factory Remains Volume 1 of 2. (Bibliographic reference). SKE31730.