Summary : A Second World War gun emplacement or light anti aircraft battery has been mapped from aerial photographs as part of the English Heritage: Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project. The site comprised a concrete platform enclosed by a rectangular earthwork bank and accompanied by a small concrete structure. This installation was located on the north facing slope of Rough Shaw, immediately inside the northern perimeter of a defended locality (Monument 1546483) centred on Lodge Hill First World War anti aircraft battery (Monument 1442424). It probably formed part of the defences of both the Hoo Stop Line (Monument 1542577 and 1542687) which lies to the north and was overlooked by this gun emplacement., and Lodge Hill Ordnance Depot (Monument 1077634) located to the south east. The first aerial photographic evidence for this gun emplacement dates to May 1944. A German map of 1940 bears a machine gun or anti aircraft gun symbol at roughly this location, although the symbol could refer to the First World War site or other similar installations in the immediate vicinity (Monuments 1546494 and 1546504). The structures associated with this gun emplacement were removed by 1952. The earthworks survived at least until 2007, although encroached upon by scrubby vegetation. |