WWII defensive scaffolding, anti-tank blocks and barbed wire situated on the beach and seafront at Ramsgate Harbour, visible in military aerial photographs.

The beach scaffolding measures approximately 490m and extends from the eastern harbour wall along Ramsgate Sands staying above the high water level. The barbed wire forms a rectangular U-shaped enclosure impeding access from the beach onto the esplanade, measuring 100m in total length. Two machine gun pits are visible as low mounds and are located behind the barbed wire. Their internal diameters measure between 1.5m and 2.3m. The main section of anti-tank blocks extend west from the barbed wire for 160m, with two short lengths running perpendicular to the seawall, measuring 18m each. A much smaller length of anti tank blocks is visible accross the path leading from the beach onto the seafront and measures just under 6m. Two military structures are also visible on the esplanade, measuring 7m by 4.2m and 6m by 5.8m and are less than 60m apart.

All the features are first visible in aerial photographs taken in Febraury 1941 [1]. They were mapped from either this series of photographs or a later set from December 1941 [2]. All the features are all gone by April 1946 [3].

The lengths of scaffolding and barbed wire functioned as beach defences in order to impede the progress of enemy soldiers, vehicles or watercraft, and were extremely common features along the coastline of south-east England.

A transcription of the features recorded from aerial photography exists within a GIS layer held by this HER.