| Summary : A Second World War temporary magazine and camp, visible on aerial photographs taken in the 1940s, has been mapped as part of the English Heritage: Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project. The installation occupied a site adjacent to the west end of Lodge Hill Armament Depot (Monument 1077634) and just north of Chattenden Magazines (Monument 1481790). Aerial photographs taken in 1944 show at least 35 temporary buildings arranged around the edges of an open field, the centre of which was covered with patches of flattened grass and areas of hard standing which probably represent the footprint of a rocket projector battery constructed in about 1942, recorded as Monument 1454727. Photographs taken in 1945 show the open central area occupied by pairs of temporary buildings or Nissen huts, with twelve pairs being visible by 1947. A further cluster of military buildings occupied the southern part of the site. The Nissen huts and most of the rest of the buildings were removed in the 1960s when the area was developed as the Lodge Hill Camp and the northern parts of the area were given over to training activities. |
More information : A Second World War temporary magazine and camp, visible on aerial photographs taken in the 1940s, has been mapped as part of the English Heritage: Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project. The installation, centre at TQ 7540 7354, occupied a 13.45 hectare site adjacent to the west end of Lodge Hill Armament Depot (Monument 1077634) and just north of Chattenden Magazines (Monument 1481790). The dimensions of the site were 493m north to south and 380m east to west. It was bounded on the east by Lodge Hill Lane, on the north by Berry Court Wood, on the west by Chattenden Wood and on the south by the course of the Chattenden and Upnor military railway.
Aerial photographs taken in 1944 show at least 35 temporary buildings arranged around the edges of an open field, the centre of which was covered with patches of flattened grass, suggesting the deposition of materials or stores, and five areas of hard standing. Photographs taken in 1945 show the open area occupied by pairs of temporary buildings or Nissen huts, with twelve pairs being visible by 1947. This area, the temporary magazine, was centred at TQ 7538 7361. A further cluster of military buildings occupied the southern part of the site, centred at TQ 7560 7340. The Nissen huts and almost all of the other buildings were removed in the 1960s when the area was developed as the Lodge Hill Camp and the northern parts of the area were given over to training activities. (1-4)
Further research indicates that the patches of flattened grass and areas of hard standing visible on the 1944 photographs, described above, probably represent the footprint of a sixty-four single barrelled UP rocket projector battery constructed in about 1942, recorded as Monument 1454727. A semi circular area at TQ 7549 7342, enclosed by the southern perimeter fence of this temporaty camp, could indicate a disused GL site associated with the rocket projector battery. (5) |