A genuinely important piece of history, this one. Lodge Hill was probably the first anti-aircraft battery ever built in Britain. Prior to 1915, all the anti-aircraft artillery in Britain basically consisted of guns sited on the tops of important government buildings. However, with the advent of the first German air raids, it was decided to build a number of AA batteries around military sites. Lodge Hill was designed to protect the Royal Engineers barracks at Chattenden and the ordnance Factories on the Isle of Grain. Visited with Newage (who definitely has some much better pictures than me!) and the Fluffster, but just haven't got round to sticking up the phots before now!
The battery buildings from a distance
The building on the left was probably the officers accommodation and still has some stand-out architectural features.....
Including this, which may have been a shower, or some kind of water facility
There are a number of other buildings as well. These next photos are from the middle one,in the main picture above where the window frames and the remnants of a toilet can be seen....
The third building on the far right of the top pictures, is perhaps the most interesting, because it has this marvellous block glass ceiling and an original set of blast doors.
And finally, some shots of what remains of the gun emplacements.....
Down the road a bit is a building that, on Kent History Forum, is described as the Decontamination Building. Interestingly, this is still heavily fenced off, and I presume that decontamination would be to do with ensuring that the gunners were not carry any flammable or explosive materials on or off the site. There is also what looks like an early Stanton air raid shelter near here as well. Vaaairy interesting - Newage got a shot of the inside of this, which he might post up if you are all very well behaved!
All comments and questions welcome......Enjoy!
Godzy
The battery buildings from a distance
The building on the left was probably the officers accommodation and still has some stand-out architectural features.....
Including this, which may have been a shower, or some kind of water facility
There are a number of other buildings as well. These next photos are from the middle one,in the main picture above where the window frames and the remnants of a toilet can be seen....
The third building on the far right of the top pictures, is perhaps the most interesting, because it has this marvellous block glass ceiling and an original set of blast doors.
And finally, some shots of what remains of the gun emplacements.....
Down the road a bit is a building that, on Kent History Forum, is described as the Decontamination Building. Interestingly, this is still heavily fenced off, and I presume that decontamination would be to do with ensuring that the gunners were not carry any flammable or explosive materials on or off the site. There is also what looks like an early Stanton air raid shelter near here as well. Vaaairy interesting - Newage got a shot of the inside of this, which he might post up if you are all very well behaved!
All comments and questions welcome......Enjoy!
Godzy