BBRITAIN BENEATH
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BRITAIN BENEATH · GUIDE · 26 SEPTEMBER 2026

Kent’s coast in 1940: barriers, guns and shelters

At Pegwell Bay, concrete obstacles were meant to delay an invasion. At Fan Bay, gunners slept beneath the chalk cliffs. The surviving structures show how defending the coast involved much more than a gun facing the sea.

Based on published records and visitor information. We have not visited these places.

The summer when a beach became a front line

After the evacuation from Dunkirk in 1940, stretches of Kent’s coast became potential landing grounds. At Pegwell Bay, engineers built obstacles and protected firing positions to slow an invading force before it could move inland.

A beach defence needed several parts to work together. Concrete could obstruct a vehicle, but guns were needed to cover the ground around it. Farther along the coast, at Fan Bay near Dover, a battery also needed somewhere for its soldiers to sleep under bombardment. Those different jobs left different kinds of remains.

Concrete across Pegwell Bay

The surviving Pegwell group includes low concrete blocks, taller cylinders and a pillbox. The low blocks are often called dragon’s teeth. Their purpose was to hinder vehicles, while the pillbox sheltered weapons covering part of the bay.

Their spread is part of the story. These defences were laid out across a landscape, not gathered inside a fort. A single map point cannot show their full extent, and finding one structure does not mean the next can be reached from the same path.

Nearby, the eastern gun house at Little Cliffsend held a four-inch gun aimed along the shore. Its builders incorporated trees into the structure as camouflage. The building’s position and concealment mattered as much as the thickness of its concrete.

A bedroom beneath the cliff

Fan Bay’s deep shelter served the men operating its coastal guns. The National Trust records sleeping accommodation about 23 metres beneath the surface, designed for 154 men. Tunnels lined with corrugated metal used supports of the kind familiar from coal mining.

This was the less visible side of coastal artillery. A gun could stand above ground while its crew needed protection below it. The shelter helped keep the battery working by giving soldiers somewhere to rest away from enemy shells and bombs.

The site also contains two older sound mirrors: concrete structures used to help detect approaching aircraft by listening for their engines. They predate the wartime shelter. A guided visit therefore brings together the earlier search for air warning and the later need to protect a gun battery’s crew.

Buried, uncovered and opened again

After the war, Fan Bay’s remains became unwanted reminders of the conflict. Structures were demolished or covered, and the shelter entrances and sound mirrors disappeared beneath soil. The National Trust later excavated and conserved the site, opening the shelter to visitors in 2015.

The visitor experience has since grown. The Trust’s account records No. 3 gun emplacement opening in June 2025 after excavation and work to make it suitable for visitors. That is a specific opening of a conserved site; it does not mean every military structure nearby is available to explore.

Two ways to follow the story today

At Pegwell Bay, start with the public country park and designated coastal paths. Explore Kent describes surfaced routes and waymarked trails. Kent Wildlife Trust’s access advice is equally important: the saltmarsh and mudflats include restricted areas. Stay on the permitted routes rather than crossing them to reach wartime concrete.

We have not confirmed a public opening or viewing point for Little Cliffsend’s gun house, or entry to the Pegwell pillbox. Those pages explain the history but do not promise a visit inside. The public landscape and the individual structures have different access arrangements.

Fan Bay offers an advertised guided shelter tour, with a visit to the sound mirrors and a self-guided look around No. 3 emplacement. The Trust allocates shelter tour times on arrival. Check its current opening calendar before travelling; this is a seasonal attraction and the walk from the main visitor centre takes about 40 minutes.

The shelter has 125 steps, so the underground visit is not step-free. The operator supplies a hard hat and head torch and asks for sensible closed-toe footwear. Use its full accessibility advice to decide whether the tour suits you. If the tunnels are shut, the established cliff walk still passes an information panel; keep to the path and away from the cliff edge.

Sources and further reading

Written from Historic England’s Pegwell Bay and Little Cliffsend assessments, Kent Wildlife Trust and Explore Kent access information, and National Trust history and visitor pages, checked on 26 September 2026. No site visit or direct operator confirmation. Pegwell’s public paths do not establish entry to individual defences; Fan Bay opening dates and tour availability must be checked with the operator. Fan Bay is contextual reporting linked to the operator, not a newly ingested map record. The 2 place records below give more information.

You can follow the links to read the original sources. Sources and permissions.

Places in this story

WWII

Pegwell Bay’s wartime beach defences

Near Margate

Researched guide · September 2026

Partial access · read details

WWII

Little Cliffsend’s eastern wartime gun house

Near Margate

Researched guide · September 2026

Access not confirmed