# Strange Tower - Kingshill, Kent



## spitfire (Dec 8, 2010)

I took these photos in November 2008 near the Kingshill development in Kent. In the bushes near a roundabout is this building. What is it?


----------



## tommo (Dec 8, 2010)

looks like the same one as this here [ame="http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=11935"]*newage report of RAF west malling*[/ame]


----------



## the_historian (Dec 8, 2010)

Definitely looks like a light ack-ack tower.


----------



## spitfire (Dec 8, 2010)

tommo said:


> looks like the same one as this here *newage report of RAF west malling*



That would be it as Kings Hill is built on the site of former RAF West Malling


----------



## tom46 (Dec 9, 2010)

AA tower. I've been there but the fence was nigh-on unclimbable unless you have two people. Seen a report of it on 28DL, there doesn't seem to be an awful lot to it.


----------



## oldscrote (Dec 9, 2010)

With the railings surrounding it it looks more like a water tower with the tank missing .


----------



## tommo (Dec 9, 2010)

or a mad mans folly


----------



## hydealfred (Dec 11, 2010)

I'm with Oldscrote on this one - its a water tank base with the tank missing. I dont think I have ever seen an AA tower on any UK airfields. I stand to be corrected of course.


----------



## MOYLIE (Dec 11, 2010)

You are all wrong it was a obeservation tower for RAF West Malling


----------



## hydealfred (Dec 11, 2010)

Really ? - it must be unique then as I have not seen one anywhere else on an airfield. Usually movement observation would have been from a watch office or control tower.


----------



## krela (Dec 11, 2010)

Moylie telling people they're wrong without referencing your "knowledge" renders anything you say meaningless. Particularly when your knowledge is ill informed.

Hydealfred there were a few Bofors AA towers similar to this in existence at one point. There was one at RAF Filton in Bristol for a long time, I'm not sure if it's still there though as I haven't been that way for a while. Concensus seems to suggest this is a bofors tower too:

http://www.kenthistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=6196.0
http://www.airfieldinformationexcha...hread.php?831-Bofors-anti-aircraft-gun-towers


----------



## tommo (Dec 11, 2010)

well most places on the net say bofor gun or AA tower, either way its different

but *here* is the link for internal pics and history thanks to kent history forum


----------



## hydealfred (Dec 12, 2010)

I need to do a bit more investigation me thinks.  The heavy conscruction seems to point more towards a water tower. Would an AA tower or observation tower require such heavy brickwork ?


----------

