Richborough Port Archaeology

ArticlesIssue 117

1 Jan

By Colin Varrall

In KAS Magazine No.116, Summer 2021, an article was written by Phil Hodges about the discovery of Moir Pillbox blocks at Botany, near Broadstairs in Kent.

The blocks were initially cast at Richborough Port, a military site developed by the Royal Engineers during the First World. Richborough Port was initially developed originally for as a military stores site on exposed marshland at Richborough and Stonar, but it would eventually become a vast network of different areas, with huge stores, warehouses, workshops, and even necessary accommodation camps capable of providing shelter and living conditions for 16,000 men and women, with the whole complex covering at least 2,000 acres.

The Royal Engineers first arrived at Richborough in the spring of 1916 and soon constructed the first of five accommodation camps. The camps consisted of buildings that were only built as temporary structures, with the exterior walls constructed from concrete blocks cast using the Winget system. The Winget system was a method of using machine casting to mould the concrete blocks. Living accommodation had double- skinned cavity walls, while most other buildings, such as the workshops and warehouses, were built with single walls. The camps were built since the first soldiers who arrived at Richborough had initially lived in military tents and constantly feared mosquitoes that swarmed around the flat marshland, where Saltpans had previously existed at Richborough and the River Stour. Sites for casting

Above

Fig 1: One of the Winget system concrete block yards the Winget blocks alone covered 17 acres, and at least 1.5 million Winget concrete blocks were manufactured by German Prisoners of War and British soldiers. Additionally, a drainage system was built and incorporated into the developments since the whole area had an average general surface level of 8 feet above mean sea level (O.D.), which afforded no means of natural drainage.

Plans were soon devised to construct purpose-built slipways on the banks of the River Stour at a location known as Bloody Point (Bloody Point is believed to have been the site of a vicious battle as recorded in the Anglo-Saxon

Chronicle in 851). Specially designed barges were assembled on the new slipways, which would eventually be loaded and be towed across the Channel to France and Belgium with cargoes of vital military supplies for the war effort. Also in 1916 was the development of a massive New

Wharf that extended a distance of 2,213 feet across the marshland of Richborough, reaching in a north to south direction. The wall of the New Wharf initially involved the use of 1,853 sections of large metal sheets being driven to an average of 22.5 feet into the ground, with the use of steam-driven rams. The land to the east side of the sheeting was being excavated by July 1916 to eventually provide a new flow of water from the sea, redirecting the River Stour from its entrance at Pegwell Bay.

Thousands of sandbags had been used to block a section of the River Stour and divert the flow of the river, which would reduce the distance from the entrance of the river to the New Wharf by half a mile and improve navigation along the river. A concrete wall was formed on top of the sheet piling. The lower walling consisted of a tie rod secured and tied back to a continuous concrete wall anchorage.

Continuous dredging went with large land dredgers and floating dredgers excavating thousands of tons of ground material. One dredger, named Orkney, began work excavating

Above, left

Fig 2: Placement of metal sheeting for the New Wharf – all land to right was excavated

Above, right

Fig 3: Land dredging the east side of the New Wharf

Below, left

Fig 4: Construction of the warehouses and workshops

Below, right

Fig 5: Progress being made on the dredging and development of the New Wharf the east side of the metal sheeting for the New Wharf on 24th August 1916, and with the assistance of four steam-driven grab machines, excavated 85,728 cubic yards of material. Much of the excavated material was loaded onto barges and taken out to sea. At the same time, a further idea involved using a pipeline pumping out excavated material on the northwest side of Pegwell Bay, much of which is now occupied by the Bird Sanctuary and land maintained by the Kent Wildlife Trust. Records state that many of the men and soldiers involved with the construction and development of Richborough Port were often those that had already served on the

Frontline and were considered unable to return to France and Belgium.

As the New Wharf rapidly reached its completion just nine months later, a railway network was built to link the New Wharf to other sites across Richborough Port, with an estimated 55 to 60 miles of track having been laid. The railway included sections of sidings and a direct link to the South Eastern & Chatham Railway mainline, connected from the Minister B junction, between Ramsgate and Minster. The New Wharf would be used as a quayside to load military supplies onto the Cross Channel barges, built at Richborough. The function of loading the barges consisted of using some of the first known electric gantry cranes in this country. By 1917, the decision had been made to increase the supplies to France and Belgium, which led to plans being devised to design purpose-built Cross Channel train ferries and a specially designed train ferry terminal where the train ferries could take moorings.

Today, all that appears to remain of Richborough Port is the crumbling remains of the Cross Channel train ferry terminal, which is now half a mile inland from the sea. The New Wharf is steadily becoming corroded and enveloped by the ever-increasing silting of the river running alongside it. Much of the exposed metal sheeting is rapidly corroding from the constant exposure to the passing seawater. There are also just a few of the original hospital buildings, now occupied by Eagle Sheds, and the solitary Detention Centre building

Top

Fig 6: Construction of the Cross Channel train ferry terminal

Bottom

Fig 7: Cross Channel barges being assembled at Richborough that is located near to Richborough Fort, now with only a few parts of its original roof remaining and it is often used more recently as a shelter for cattle in the surrounding field.

Colin has written and self-published a 178-page book titled Engineering Richborough, which explains the history and development of Richborough and Stonar and concentrates mainly on the history and development of Richborough Port, built as a military site by the Royal Engineers during the First World War. The book also gives information for the use of Richbrough Port during the interwar years, also during the Second World, and chapters about Richborough Power Station and Pegwell Bay Hoverport. Copies of the book will be available to purchase on eBay or by contacting Colin at addelambooks@outlook.com.

The book is priced at £20 plus

£3.30 for First Class Royal Mail postage and packing (total £23.30).