Two depressions, both c.3m wide, are visible running through the road close to Woodnesborough Gate, Sandwich on 1940s RAF vertical aerial photographs. They are first visible in photographs from 1942 [1] and run through the line of the road at right-angles to its course. They are thought to be trenches for the set-up of a roadblock; one of several added to the circuit of Sandwich’s existing medieval town defences during WWII (MWX43418, MWX 43421, MWX43554). Further contemporary defensive features lie to the immediate north-west of the roadblock (MWX43424)

The trenches appear to have been infilled post-war and are no longer visible on aerial photographs from 1949 [2].

A transcription of the features recorded from aerial photography exists within a GIS layer held by this HER [3].

<3> Wessex Archaeology, 2009-10, South-East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey - Aerial Photographic Transcriptions (Digital archive). SWX15705.

<3> Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey - (SE RCZAS) Phase 1: National Mapping Programme Report (Unpublished document). SKE25955.

<3> Cornwall Council Historic Environment Projects and Gloucestershire County Council, 2011, South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey National Mapping Programme Components 1&2: Results of NMP Mapping (Unpublished document). SKE25954.