This Cold War-era Royal Observer Corps post is situated in a disused compound on the edge of Rainham Quarry beside a former quarry pool, south of Warwick Lane. It would have been used for monitoring nuclear blasts in the event of a direct conflict with the Soviet Union.
It is unknown what year this post first opened, although it is known that it stayed in use until 1991. It is believed that it may have been a master post for those in the wider area. We visited the post in 2021, although found it to be locked.
The post sits on a parcel of land extending into a former quarry pit which is now flooded. This quarry occupies the site of the historical Ayletts farm, which was likely demolished for quarry activity. The compound containing the ROC post appears to jut out into the quarry, although it is likely the quarry came slightly later and was excavated around the post’s compound to avoid it underground. The wider quarry site appears to have been operating for at least the past 50 years, with quarrying still in operation in the area to the south-east.
