Upnor Castle is an Elizabethan artillery fort, built in 1559 protect the dockyard and Royal Navy ships docked in the Medway. Construction took 8 years to built the fort following orders from Elizabeth I, who was worried about tensions with Spain. 80 men would have been at the site as it’s peak – today it…
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Situated above the White Cliffs of Dover, this iconic castle has guarded our shores from invasion for 20 centuries and is the largest castle in England. Dover Castle is owned by English Heritage and is a Scheduled Monument meaning that it’s “nationally important” and is protected from any unauthorised change. Known as the ‘Key to England’,…
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TN9 Hadleigh at Sandpit Hill was one of several heavy anti-aircraft batteries in the area – such as TN7 Furtherwick and TN8 Northwick on Canvey, and also TN10 Vange. They would’ve been used for defence in the Second World War to shoot down enemy bombers and fighters during the Blitz. It also would have been a defence…
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Do you know your Tett Turret from your Dragons Teeth? We’ve covered over 180 historic locations (and counting!) on the website, most of which are military related so we’ve devised this guide to explain all manner of World War Two Defences. Dragons teeth, or pimples or anti-tank traps, all provide the same purpose. They were…
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First visited in the summer of 2012, Bowers Gifford is home to five surviving pillboxes which would have formed part of the GHQ defence line. Fifty of these lines were built and this particular one stretched from Canvey Island up to Colchester and would have been the first line of defence for London. Around 400…
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What is RAF Hornchurch? Hornchurch Country Park covers almost 105 hectares on the former site or RAF Hornchurch. Used today by dog walkers, fishermen and families; many historic remains are scattered around the park and we went to explore what still survives from the Second World War. The airfield has existed since 1915 as ‘Sutton…
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In a field parallel to the A12 lies two remains from the Cold War. Opened in July 1959 is the Royal Observers Corps (ROC) Post at Hatfield Peverel – built to monitor the radiation of a nuclear bomb; if one was ever dropped. Situated right next to the ROC post is a is a Type…
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As you should know if you’re either a budding historian or keen BTP reader, Watt Tyler country park is situated on the GHQ line – the 1st line of defence in WW2 against a German assault on the capital. Whilst the majority of the park’s history is focused on it as an early 20th Century…
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When Beyond the Point was first established in 2011, we started investigating some strange patterns on Upper Horse Island, situated to the west of Canvey Island. They appear to be the same colour to the marsh surrounding, but are clearly shaped by humans, it being square, with circles and lines inside. This lead us to…
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Paglesham is a vast expanse of mostly rural land surrounded by earthen seawalls of the common pre-North Sea Flood style witnessed across the Essex coastline. These protect it from the River Crouch and Roach. As well as requiring protection from the water, in 1940 it needed protection from what might exploit these waterways. Operation Sealion…
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