Information request: First World War fieldworks and defences in Kent

Dear Editor

Can any of your readers help? The trenches and barbed wire of the First World War are enduringly associated with the killing fields of Flanders. But little is known or remembered of the extensive systems of defensive fieldworks in Britain, with an estimated total of more than 100km in the country’s south east ‘invasion corner’ alone. I am trying to find out more about them and where they were.

There is evidence of systems having existed on Sheppey, the Hoo Peninsula, at Chatham, from the Swale to Detling, at Wrotham, Tonbridge and Dover as well as along the North Downs of Kent and Surrey and into Essex, forming a huge arc around London. There must have been others, whether on the coast or inland, perhaps close to road routes, at or near villages or securing places considered worth defending. So I wondered whether any of your readers would be willing to tell me of any they know about, have heard about or suspect. The overall aim, once the research is more advanced, is to share the results through publication, all help given being properly acknowledged.

With thanks,
Victor Smith, Defence Historian