Chattenden means ‘Forest Settlement’ from the elements ceto and ham dun. It is recorded in 1100 as Chetindunam, and Chatindone in 1281.

Chattenden is a small village located in the Medway district of Kent. The village is situated on the Hoo Peninsula, which is surrounded by the River Thames and the River Medway. Chattenden is known for its rich history, which dates back to the Roman times. The village was once a major military site and played a significant role in the defence of the country during World War II.

The village also has a primary school, a church, a community centre, and a local pub. The pub, called The Ship Inn, is a popular spot for locals and visitors alike and serves traditional British food and drinks.

The Lodge Hill camp site also adjoins the Chattenden Woods Site of Special Scientific Interest. This is designated for woodland habitat and breeding birds, and also includes an area of grassland at Rough Shaw, which has a number of locally scarce species and provides foraging habitat for some of the bird species living in the woodland.

Kitchener Road eventually leads itself to Chattenden Woods and Lodge Hill, designated as an SSSI, due to the diversity of insects, birds, plants and trees found there.

A number of protected species are found within or adjacent to the site, including reptiles, bats, badgers, great crested newts, common toads, invertebrate and plant species. There are also many more species which are not formally protected by legislation but are still of ecological interest. This includes a large population of breeding nightingales, potentially around 1% of the total UK population of this declining species

Nightingales make a several thousand mile migration to West Africa and then return to the same tree, making biodiversity offsetting inappropriate for the species

One of the most notable landmarks in Chattenden is the Chattenden Barracks, which was built in the 19th century. The barracks were used by the British Army until 1994 and were later converted into a housing estate.

Chattenden Barracks provided extensive barracks and training facilities for the Royal School of Military Engineering. The first administrative and residential buildings, arranged around a quadrangle, were completed in 1872-73 in response to increased demand for munitions storage and the provision of barrack accommodation. The original buildings were demolished and the Barracks site was completely rebuilt on a different plan in 1961. The site was vacated in the 1980s and the second phase buildings have also now been demolished

The barracks were connected to the magazines and to Upnor, to the south, by the Chattenden and Upnor Railway (Monument 1545587), which passes the southern edge of the barrack site.

.In 2007 the camp was designated a brownfield site and was to be sold for cost cutting measures by the Ministry of Defence. Natural England declared this a Site of Special Scientific Interest and in 2016 the MOD put the Lodge Hill and Chattenden site up for sale.

History of the site dates back to 1875 when several ammunition storage facilities were built. Nearby Upnor Castle has been storing gunpowder since 1667, and from 1875 the site needed to expand. From 1899, the storage facility was expanded with the development of the nearby Lodge Hill site, which provided space for a further dozen small magazines for storing cordite and other highly-explosive materials. For safety the structures were set apart from one another with dense woodland planted in-between to reduce the blast from any accidental explosion.

The Chattenden and Upnor Railway (also known as the Lodge Hill and Upnor Railway was a narrow gauge railway serving the military barracks and depot at Upnor, and associated munitions and training depots. It started life in the early 1870s as a standard-gauge railway. The 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge working began in 1885, initially in a mixed gauge formation with the standard gauge, and post circa 1903 2 ft. 6 in. gauge exclusively. In the latter form the line continued in use until the end of 1961.

The first railway at Chattenden was a standard gauge line laid by the Royal Engineers in the early 1870s. This was used to bring building materials from a wharf at Upnor to be used in the construction of the Chattenden Munitions Depot. According to a report in the issue of "Iron" dated Saturday 29 May 1875, "A detachment of non-commissioned officers and men of the Royal Engineers, commanded by Lieutenant Barker, on Saturday left the School of Military Engineering at Chatham for Upnor, where they will be quartered for some time, as they are to be employed to lay down lines of rails to connect forts on the Thames and Medway with the new powder magazines to be constructed at Chattenden Roughs, a few miles from the old magazines at Upnor Castle. It is expected that more than forty miles of these railways will be constructed."

This railway fell out of use when the building work was completed.

The line was never opened to the public, but passenger services were run for munitions workers. In 1891 and there were nine passenger trains running each day.

During the Second World War, passenger trains were revived using bogie carriages built by Charles Roberts & Co. Ltd. in 1942. These continued until 19 May 1961.

The railway depot of the Lodge Hill and Upnor Railway was adjacent to the barracks which were the centre of the School of Military Engineering.

The railway started at the Lodge Hill munitions depot, at interchange sidings with the standard gauge. Chattenden Naval Tramway curved around the west end of Chattenden Magazines Enclosure to Lutnor Junction, where a branch ran back into the magazines. The main line continued southeast for a quarter of a mile (0.40 km) to Chattenden Barracks, where the line's locomotive sheds and workshops were located. A long branch ran east from here to the village of Hoo.

South of Chattenden Barracks, the line rose on an embankment to cross the A228 road on an overbridge. It then continued south to Upnor Junction.

The story of the Lodge Hill & Upnor Railway begins in 1873 when a Manning Wardle 1ft 6in gauge locomotive named BURGOYNE was sent to the Royal Engineers at Upnor to assist in the construction of a light railway, which was to be known as the Chattenden & Upnor Railway. Some of the line must have been laid to 4ft 8½in gauge as we hear that six Aveling & Porter engines of 2−2−0 design were also supplied. These 5−ton "Steam Sappers" had two sets of wheels, one for road work and a flanged set for use on rails.

Chattenden Barracks (just behind the Railway Depot) was then the centre of the School of Military Engineering. By 1875, work had progressed so well that there were some four miles of track from Pontoon Hard, via Tank Field and Church Crossing to the Railway Depot with a spur line going from the crossing towards Lower Upnor, as well as a one and a half mile line from Chattenden to Hoo Creek.

Some of the early locos are only names to us now, e.g. CENTAUR and HARVEY (or HARRY). but one of which we know a little was the ROYAL ENGINEER - an 0−4−0 saddle tank built in 1876 by Manning Wardle.

The magazines in the Chattenden enclosure were built between 1876 and 1878 by convict labour and the railway was, therefore, extended. The convicts were brought over daily in chains by boat from Chatham (originally they were housed in hulks on the Medway) and thence by the railway to Chattenden. Subsequently the line was straightened where it crossed Four Elms Hill by a level crossing and a bridge was built instead. In 1885, the line was extensively re-laid and probably converted to 2ft 6in gauge where it was not already that gauge.

The 8th Railway Company of the Royal Engineers managed the line and used it extensively for training and for the transport of men and stores. In 1891, there were in each direction six powder and nine passenger trains, the latter conveying one hundred passengers a time. The railway was further extended about 1892 to a point just inside the west end of Lodge Hill enclosure. During 1893-1894, something like 59,000 personnel and 21,000 tons of explosives were carried, but there was very little activity from 1899 to 1901 because most of the officers and men were on active service in South Africa.

In 1891, the Admiralty took over full responsibility from the Army for the supply of armament stores to the Fleet, and in consequence acquired Upnor Depot; the railway subsequently accepted both Admiralty and Army traffic. In 1902, a new armament depot was built for the Admiralty in the Lodge Hill enclosure and in 1905, Chattenden enclosure was given over in exchange for Naval magazines in another district.

About this time the narrow gauge line was extended to the east end of Lodge Hill and a transfer point made with the standard gauge line running to Sharnal Street. It was to be expected that negotiations would be opened for the Admiralty to take over full control of the rail system and this transfer was made on 1st April 1906 when the Railway School moved to Longmoor in Hampshire.

It was indeed a sad day on 29th May 1961 when the last scheduled train ran from Upnor to Lodge Hill. The line was later taken over by the War Department and in December 1965 the track was lifted.

Bishop Gundulph Church, the former garrison church is situated at the junction of Chattenden Lane and Kitchener Road- opposite Chattenden Primary School. It looked like a military bunker, and rumour has it that when Prince Phillip saw the church, way back in the 1960’s, he thought it was a public lavatory. Then someone placed a large Cross on the white top section, it now looked like a house of God.

It is often lit up at night: a beacon for all around. Inside it is ornate, but the wonderful texture and colour of the wood on ceiling, walls and pews is agreeable and attractive. Many of the front pews have now been removed, so that children can run around. One of the walls slides back revealing a kitchen/diner, it is small but adequate.

On the wall behind the Altar are drawings of different fruits; underneath each is written the Fruit of the Spirit. – JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS, GENTLENESS, AND SELF-CONTROL. There are no rules, but what a good motto to live by!

The church has fixed pews, an entrance lobby, a small hall, two toilets and two small rooms (vestry/ex choir vestry). It has an organ and is surrounded by grassed areas currently maintained by the local authority. 

The church building is used by different community groups during the week. On the first Saturday of the month we have Morning Prayer with a particular focus on the mission of the parish. At present there is no other regular worship and this church is not licensed for marriages.

A little about Bishop Gundulph. He came to England following the Norman Conquest [1077-1108] and became a Bishop of Rochester. He was known as the builder bishop and can only be described as a polymath. He seems to have been an expert in everything: he was an architect, engineer, builder, academic, monk, bishop, artist – and a man of prayer and action.

Because of his military engineering talents; the Royal Engineers regard him as ‘Father of the Corps.’

Until 1998 this was the Garrison Church of the Royal Engineers in the Garrison Camp at Chattenden. It was ‘gifted’ from the Army Chaplains Department to Rochester Diocese in 1998 and became part of the responsibility of the PCC at that time. It is a fairly modern building built in the 1960’s.

The County Council notes that recent archaeological investigations at Chattenden in response to housing development, have revealed important, but previously unknown, archaeological sites including evidence for Mesolithic activity and Anglo-Saxon settlement.

These discoveries highlight the potential for further important, but unknown archaeological sites to exist within the proposed growth area. Any future master plan for the area is therefore recommended to have sufficient flexibility to take account of important archaeological discoveries. This will likely require a comprehensive programme of desk-based, non- intrusive and intrusive assessment and evaluation prior to any detailed master planning.

In 1891, the decision was taken to apportion Britain's ordnance depots (which were all at that time overseen by the War Office) either to the Navy or to the Army. Under the new arrangements Upnor was given to the Navy and Chattenden to the Army.

Without Chattenden, the Navy lacked sufficient storage space; this led to the development of the adjacent Lodge Hill site, opened in 1899, to provided space for a further dozen small magazines for storing cordite, dry guncotton and other highly explosive materials.

Each magazine was surrounded by an earth mound (traverse) and all the individual buildings were linked by sidings connected to the aforementioned narrow-gauge railway line which also had an interchange at the eastern end of the new depot with a new standard-gauge railway (known as the Chattenden Naval Tramway) from here to Sharnal Street station on the South Eastern Railway (the first time a Naval Ordnance Depot had been connected to the main line railway network).

For safety, the structures were set apart from one another, and the intervening space was planted with dense woodland. Lodge Hill was initially known as Chattenden Royal Naval Ordnance Depot; but in 1903, the Navy took over the older Chattenden magazines as well, whereupon Upnor, Chattenden and Lodge Hill were each named Royal Naval Ordnance Depots.

Central Terrace: built as Police Quarters for those guarding the depot at Chattenden, later used for Explosive Ordnance Search & Disposal training.

As early as 1912 it was realised that the Lodge Hill and Chattenden Magazines were vulnerable to air attack. A surviving First World War anti-aircraft emplacement on Chattenden Ridge is of historic importance: it may have been the first anti-aircraft emplacement in the world, and was almost certainly the first in Britain.

Nevertheless, Chattenden and Lodge Hill continued to be used for ammunition storage through both World Wars, until 1961. Thereafter, the site was used as extensive barracks and training facilities for the Royal School of Military Engineering (RSME). The Joint Service Bomb Disposal School moved here from Broadbridge Heath in 1966

The 1870s magazines at Chattenden remain in situ (though vulnerable to subsidence - a problem first identified soon after their completion); they were latterly used for general storage. Several magazines and other structures also survive at Lodge Hill.

The 1872 Barracks quadrangle, with its central clock tower, was vacated in 1961 and demolished; (the clock itself was moved to Portsmouth Royal Dockyard and not long afterwards was installed in the pediment of No. 11 Storehouse alongside HMS Victory).

The following year a new barracks for RSME was built on the site; this remained in use until the 1990s and was itself demolished in 2005. The Defence Explosive Ordnance Disposal School was housed in a separate complex (Lodge Hill Camp) along with the National Search Centre (a joint Ministry of Defence / Home Office facility providing training in Explosive Ordnance Disposal and search training for the police and other civilian agencies).

The surrounding landscape provided training areas for these institutions; a pair of Victorian terraces, which once housed the on-site police force, were used for explosives search training and other structures were built expressly for this purpose. Bridge-building and other engineering training also took place on the site, and there was a specialist diver training facility in Lodge Hill Camp.

Present day

Chattenden and Lodge Hill Training Areas continued to be used into the 21st century, preparing personnel for active service in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In 2007, the Ministry of Defence designated the Military Land as a brownfield area for redevelopment for residential and light industrial use. The RSME continues to operate a training facility in nearby Upper Upnor, and the Defence Explosive Ordnance Disposal School has relocated to a new facility, which opened in 2013, on the former St George's Barracks site in Bicester.

Defence Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Munitions and Search School, Chattenden

November 29, 2021

The Royal School of Military Engineering took over the former Royal Naval Armaments Depots at Chattenden and Lodge Hill Military Camps in 1961. Both these adjacent sites became training areas for the relocated Joint Service Bomb Disposal School (renamed the Defence Explosive Ordnance Disposal School), which opened its new premises in Lodge Hill Camp in 1966. It shared its site and facilities with the National Search Centre, a joint Ministry of Defence/Home Office facility which provided specialist search and counter-terrorism training for the police and civil agencies.

Sitting within the Medway District, the anti-aircraft emplacement at Lodge Hill is seen as having national significance, and as such was scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 (reference) in 2012, and it is believed that this site, and its ‘sister’ site at Beacon Hill are the earliest examples of anti-aircraft defences in Britain.

The site is now over 100 years old, being constructed around 1913, it was later re-armed during the Second World War twenty years after construction. This site, along with the emplacements (no longer extant) at Beacon Hill, and a number of other Grade II listed sentry posts at Lodge Hill and Chattenden form a formidable set of First World War defences almost unique to this area built to protect the nearby ordnance depots.

Initially the site would have housed around 35 men, 11 each to man the 6 inch breech loaded howitzers, with the remainder in command and control functions. Later on in its service, the site was fitted with a 3 inch quick-firing (QF) gun and a 1 pounder 37mm quick-firing Pom-Pom gun.

By 1917 the site had been disarmed and appeared not to be in use.

With a new lease of life in WW2, the site housed a Z-battery of anti-aircraft rockets, prompting some modification and reworking of the existing structures; the rocket battery was housed to the west of the site, and the southern emplacement had been mostly demolished at this stage.

To the right of the image is the War Shelter; a strong defensible block house to be used in the event of the site being attacked by ground troops. The northern emplacement can be seen to the top of the cluster, retaining its original perimeter wall, while the south emplacement has been mostly demolished with the exception of the base. Notably to the north, the very top of this picture is a large square, concrete base, which may have been the Z-battery base, added during the Second World War.

The War Shelter is clearly visible to the right of the image, with the small rifle holes in the walls. The commanding location of this site can be seen from its location on the highest part of a ridge, with the ground falling away behind to the valley below. Behind the photographer is the Lodge Hill ammunition depot. The red-brick building is the Artillery and Ammunition Store, with the defensible accommodation block to the left.

The shelter had rifle slits in the external walls, a set of steel doors (the original ones can be seen in the image) and a glass block skylight in the roof. The floor would have been timber, with some of the original features still visible. This shelter was modified in WW2 as an ammunition store, onto which it appears the external shuttering for the steel doors was added.

Outside the compound was what appears to be the contemporary WW1 Air Raid Shelter for the site. Under the steel cover (added at a later date) is a set of steps down to the corrugated steel lined shelter.