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Historic England Research Records

Grain Wing Battery

Hob Uid: 418678
Location :
Medway
Isle of Grain
Grid Ref : TQ8914476389
Summary : Coastal artillery battery, built in 1895 to reinforce and supplement the adjacent Grain Fort. It consisted of a line of four gun emplacements (two 11-inch rifled muzzle-loaders and two 4.7-inch quick-firers) on top of an hexagonal earthwork with a sloping glacis to the front. The battery was disarmed by 1912. The earthworks of the battery survive in good condition, although the emplacements were infilled and sealed by 1966.The fort was built against the earlier military road built in the 1860s to link Grain Fort to the north and Grain/Dummy Battery to the south. The cutting for the road forms the western side of the battery. The earthwork remains of this battery were mapped from aerial photographs as part of the English Heritage: Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project.
More information : [TQ 891764] Wing Battery (NAT). (1)

Wing Battery, 1890, to house rifled muzzle-loading guns, later resited for 4.6" breech-loading guns. (2)

Completed in 1895 and armed with two 4.7" quick firing guns and two 11" RMLs. In 1914 the battery was dismantled and the two 4.7" guns transferred to the Three Gun Tower (TQ 898760). On the beach two concrete stands for range and direction finders can be seen. A shallow ditch and low hump mark the site of the gun positions. (3)

TQ 891 764
An earthen battery built in 1895 and armed with two 11-inch RMLs and two 4.7-inch QF guns to complement the existing defences at Grain Fort (TQ 87 NE 8) and Dummy Battery (TQ 87 NE 10). The guns were removed by 1912, the two 4.7-inch QFs being moved to Grain Tower (TQ 87 NE 7), and it appears to have gone out of use as an artillery battery at that date, though it was modified for infantry defence during the First World War. The emplacements and several buildings were still extant in 1961 (visible on aerial photographs (5)), after which the buildings were removed and the emplacements filled in and made safe.

The earthworks survive in good condition, and traces of three of the emplacements and both DRF positions are still visible.

Wing Battery was surveyed by the Royal Commission on the Histroical Monuments of England following a request from Kent County Council and as part of a European project looking at similar sites in Kent, Nord-Pas de Calais and West Flanders. See archive report and plans. (4)

Grain Wing Battery located at TQ 888 763. By December 1902 it was armed with two 4.7-inch quick-firing guns and two 11-inch rifle muzzle-loading weapons. (10-11)

Aerial photography from 1975 shows that the battery has been infilled and is in overgrown and poor condition. The defence electric light (DEL) is visible immediately to the north-east of the battery. (12)

The earthwork remains of this battery were mapped from aerial photographs as part of the English Heritage: Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project. The fort was built against the earlier military road built in the 1860s to link Grain Fort to the north and Grain/Dummy Battery to the south. The cutting for the road forms the western side of the battery. (13)
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Source details : OS 25" 1933
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Source details : NMR RAF/26/UK 920 32 23-MAR-1942
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Source details : MacDougall, P., The Isle of Grain Defences, 1980, Kent Defence Research Group. P.18
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Source details : RCHME: Coastal Artillery Fortifications at Grain Survey
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Source details : NMR Aerial Photograph 58/RAF/4646/332-3 (28/08/1961)
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Source details : Gazetteer Part 1: KD94
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Related Records from other datasets:
External Cross Reference Source : National Monuments Record Number
External Cross Reference Number : TQ 87 NE 9
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Relationship type : General association
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Related Activities :
Associated Activities :
Activity type : MEASURED SURVEY
Start Date : 1998-03-01
End Date : 1999-03-01
Associated Activities :
Activity type : MEASURED SURVEY
Start Date : 2008-01-01
End Date : 2009-12-31
Associated Activities :
Activity type : AERIAL PHOTOGRAPH INTERPRETATION
Start Date : 2010-09-01
End Date : 2012-03-01