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Shoeburyness Boom

Cold War fortificationsMilitary history of EssexScheduled monuments in EssexThames EstuaryWorld War II sites in England
Shoeburyness boom map
Shoeburyness boom map

The Shoeburyness Boom (also known as the Sheerness Boom, Thames Boom or Thames Estuary Boom) refers to two successive defensive barriers across most of the Thames Estuary in the mid-20th century. As to the part perpendicular to the north shore most of the latter incarnation remains, and its nearest concrete mooring/patrol point 600 metres south. A 2 km (2,200 yard) stretch, this is designated a scheduled monument and marks the western edge of MoD Shoeburyness firing range, a restricted area. The rest was taken up in the 1960s. The first guise was built in late 1939, the first months of the Second World War, mainly to protect shipping and the capital from attack by submarines, mines and surface vessels. It was dismantled. The second was built between 1950 and 1953 to forestall access to the estuary by Soviet submarines during the Cold War. Both booms ran most of the way from Shoeburyness in Essex to Sheerness in Kent: 5.6 miles (9.0 km). The first guise consisted of wooden piles driven into the estuary bed save for in the deep-water channel which was protected by an anti-submarine net. The second guise added concrete piles at either end of the gap (channel) able to assist Royal Navy vessels. The development of nuclear missiles, jet bombers and the hydrogen bomb quickly rendered the Cold War boom obsolete and it was partially demolished in the 1960s.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Shoeburyness Boom (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Shoeburyness Boom
Essex

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 51.5271 ° E 0.8148 °
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Great Wakering


SS3 0DD Essex
England, United Kingdom
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Shoeburyness boom map
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Danish Camp
Danish Camp

Danish Camp is an Iron Age fortified settlement in Shoeburyness in Essex. It is a Scheduled Monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979, list number 1017206. The site is in the Gunners Park and Shoebury Ranges nature reserve, which is managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust.This site is classed by Natural England as a 'slight univallate hillfort'. There are two sections remaining of the defensive banks of the settlement. The surviving part of the north-western bank is around 80 metres long, and it has an average height of 2 metres and width of 11 metres. The southern bank is slightly lower. There was an external ditch, which is now largely filled. Pottery vessels have been found dating to the Middle Iron Age, around 400 to 200 years BC, together with four round houses and many post holes and pits. There is some evidence of earlier Mesolithic and Bronze Age occupation, but as this extends beyond the site it is thought to represent general utilisation of the area. The site was agricultural land until it was purchased by the Board of Ordnance in 1849, and some of the visible Iron Age remains were probably lost at that time, while other parts have been lost to coastal erosion. There is also evidence of Roman occupation in the south-west corner.The site is called the Danish Camp because it was thought to have been constructed by the Danish Viking leader Hastein, who is reported by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to have built a fort at Shoebury in 894; though he might have re-used the existing camp, no evidence has been found of Viking occupation.There is public access to the site, which is between Ness Road and Warrior Square Road.