Guns of the White Cliffs

Coastal artillery batteries defending the Kent coast, Folkestone to Deal, 1940–1945

Source: Kent Heritage / Exploring Kent's Past

Copt Point, Folkestone

Folkestone East Battery

An emergency coastal battery built to defend the sea approaches to Folkestone Harbour and East Wear Bay. Two 6-inch gun emplacements survive today in good condition, along with the battery observation post.

2 x 6-inch guns
Manned by 338 Battery, 550 Coast Regiment
Armed until September 1944
Site includes control bunker, transformer box, Nissen huts and trench remains

Capel Battery gun emplacement under construction 1942

Source: capelbattery.com

Capel-le-Ferne

Capel Battery

Built between 1941 and 1942 on the cliff tops between Dover and Folkestone. The naval-pattern 8-inch guns sat in emplacements sunk 40 feet deep, protected by concrete walls six to eight feet thick, with deep underground magazines feeding ammunition up by lift.

3 x 8-inch coastal guns
Manned by 520 Coast Regiment Royal Artillery, later 424 Coast Defence RA
Commissioned June 1942; placed on care and maintenance June 1944
Guns removed 1947 — underground structures, hut bases and plotting room survive
Eastern part of the site now forms the Battle of Britain Memorial

Source: Subterranea Britannica

Abbot's Cliff / Shakespeare Cliff, between Dover and Folkestone

Hougham Battery

Built in 1941 on the cliff edge between Abbot's Cliff and Shakespeare Cliff, this battery mounted three 8-inch Mark VIII naval guns and formed part of the dense cluster of defences covering the Dover approaches.

3 x 8-inch Mark VIII naval guns
Manned by 520 Coast Regiment Royal Artillery
Built 1941

Fan Bay Battery gun emplacement National Trust

Source: National Trust

Langdon Cliffs, Dover

Fan Bay Battery

Established on the direct orders of Winston Churchill as part of the September 1940 programme to close the Strait of Dover to enemy shipping. Its three 6-inch guns went into action repeatedly between 1942 and 1944, and the site was later renamed "Fan Bay Battery" by the regimental commanding officer.

3 x 6-inch guns
Part of 540 Coast Regiment Royal Artillery
Guns in position by mid-February 1941
540 Regiment's batteries together fired 3,564 shells and sank 28 ships
Now run by the National Trust – Fan Bay Deep Shelter tours open to the public

Source: Kent Archaeological Society

St Margaret's-at-Cliffe

South Foreland Battery

The largest coastal battery built by the Royal Engineers for the Dover area, mounting four 9.2-inch long-range guns. It played a leading role in closing the Dover Strait to enemy shipping, and its deep shelters and plotting rooms survive underground to this day.

4 x 9.2-inch guns
Part of 540 Coast Regiment Royal Artillery, formed September 1940
Excavation began December 1940; guns arrived March 1941
Fired 2,248 rounds over the course of the war
Above-ground buildings demolished in the 1970s; deep shelters remain

Source: National Trust

Wanstone Farm, near South Foreland Lighthouse

Wanstone Battery — "Jane" and "Clem"

The heaviest guns on the Kent coast: two 15-inch naval guns supplied by the Admiralty, named "Jane" and "Clem" after the era's cartoon characters. On 17 September 1944 they provided covering fire during the Canadian capture of the German cross-Channel guns, scoring a direct hit on the Lindemann battery near Calais.

2 x 15-inch naval guns
Operational from August 1942
Manned by 540 Coast Regiment Royal Artillery
Remained in place until 1959, long after coast artillery was retired in 1956

Source: Skill Horizons / Kent History Forum

St Margaret's-at-Cliffe

St Margaret's Battery — "Winnie" and "Pooh"

One of the earliest emergency batteries, armed with four 5.5-inch naval guns taken from HMS Hood during her 1939 refit. "Winnie" fired the first British shell to cross the Channel to France on 22 August 1940. Once the more powerful Fan Bay guns came online in 1941, the site was relegated to training duties and later used as a "flashing battery" to trick enemy shipping.

4 x 5.5-inch guns, ex-HMS Hood
Manned by 411 Battery, 540 Coast Regiment
Built summer 1940
Winnie fired the first cross-Channel shot of the war, 22 August 1940

Source: Kent Heritage / Historic England

Deal Castle, Deal

Deal Emergency Battery

Commissioned in May 1940 as part of the first wave of emergency coastal defences, mounting two ex-naval 6-inch guns on the seaward side of Deal Castle, which itself served as the battery observation post and accommodation. No trace of the gun emplacements survives — the site was completely cleared after the war.

2 x 6-inch ex-naval guns
Manned by 337 Battery, 563 Coast Regiment
Commissioned May 1940; armed until at least September 1944
Site now completely demolished, no remains left

From Copt Point in the west to Deal Castle in the east, this chain of batteries — together with the "flashing" decoy sites and the Diver anti-aircraft batteries that filled the gaps — formed the backbone of Kent's coast artillery defence during what became known locally as "Hellfire Corner."