Anti-tank Cubes on the Sea-wall of the River Medway at TQ7926371678

Reasons for Designation

Listable at Grade II

Details

HOO ST WERBURGH

1797/1/10022 Anti-tank cubes on the sea-wall of the 21-MAY-10 River Medway at TQ7926371678

GV II Anti-tank cubes at the southern end of the Hoo Stop-line, built in 1940.

DESCRIPTION: A line of anti-tank cubes located on the sea-wall and foreshore, on the north bank of the Medway estuary, at TQ 79263 71678. They are built of concrete using formers (the lines of the formers can be clearly seen) and are approximately 1.5m in dimension. There are seven cubes with a possible eight buried at the junction of the sea wall and foreshore. The cubes are deployed corner to corner. There are traces of red paint on some of the cubes.

HISTORY: The line of anti-tank cubes was constructed in 1940 as one component of the Hoo Stop-line. This defensive anti-invasion line stretched for approximately eight miles between the River Thames near Cliffe and the River Medway to the south-east of Hoo St Werburgh. The building of defence works to protect against German invasion began in June 1940, following the defeat of British forces in Europe and the return of many troops from Dunkirk. Stop-lines were essentially anti-tank obstacles intended to check the advance of fast moving columns of armoured troops; they were also intended as prepared battlefields for the Field Army to defend in the event of invasion. The local Home Guard Unit would have been responsible for keeping the pillboxes supplied and would have also assisted in the manning of roadblocks.

The Hoo Stop-line was part of the principal stop-line; the GHQ (General Headquarters) Line which ran from the North Somerset Coast to the east of London and then, parallel with the east coast, to Yorkshire. The GHQ line across the Hoo Peninsula took the form of an artificial anti-tank ditch dug to join the Medway and Thames rivers. This was supported by pillboxes, anti-tank rails and road blocks. The War Office plan for this line indicates a total of sixty infantry and eighteen anti-tank pillboxes enclosing the higher ground containing the Lodge Hill and Chattenden Ordnance Depots (now the Royal School of Military Engineering's Lodge Hill Camp and Chattenden Barracks.) Each individual component would have been encircled in barbed wire for extra protection, as would the defended localities (see below). There were probably also other earthworks in support which are now lost, such as slit trenches.

The Hoo Peninsula was a heavily militarised zone during the Second World War with Hoo itself designated as a Defended Village in 1941 with a garrison of sixty-three men armed with anti-tank rifles and Bren guns. Kingshill Camp, to the west of Bell Lane, was a designated Defended Locality with a further one hundred troops from the 347th Searchlight Battery, Royal Artillery. High Halstow village to the north was a further Defended Locality and the Royal Navy Ammunition Store at Lodge Hill had a garrison of three hundred men. As the topography here is very low-lying, with relatively easy access from the coast, the stop-line was intended to provide a man-made defence against invasion, specifically by tanks, and subtle changes in gradient or even hedge lines were used to site the various defensive components to best advantage in the protection of the higher ground and ordnance depots.

SOURCES: Foot, W, Defence Areas: a national study of Second World War anti-invasion landscapes in England. English Heritage and the Council for British Archaeology (2004) Saunders, W & Smith, V, Kent's Defence Heritage, Site KD164 Hoo St. Werburgh to Lodge Hill Line of Pillboxes. Kent County Council (2001) War Office document, Hoo Stop Line (reference WO 166/4297): sketch plan and list of infantry and anti-tank pillboxes RAF/106G/UK/1444, frame 3122, 1 May 1946. Aerial photograph in the National Monuments Record collection (library number 353)

REASON FOR DESIGNATION DECISION: A line of anti-tank cubes on the sea wall and foreshore at Hoo St Werburgh is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Historical Interest: anti-tank cubes at the extreme south end of the Hoo Stop Line; a significant stop-line which could have been one of the front lines in the event of an invasion from across The Channel; * Group Value: with a Type 28 anti-tank gun emplacement and a Type 24 infantry pillbox, all of which reinforce the end of the line.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

505305

Legacy System:

LBS

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