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Rifle Butts - RSPB Rainham Marshes

This is basically a huge target built in 1906 by the War Department for soldiers training to use their rifles.

 

Soldiers would aim at paper targets hoisted up on pulleys in front of the numbers. The concrete steps in the front were originally covered in sand to mop up any stray bullets from soldiers who were not the best shots!

 

As a child I remember seeing this from the other side when the rifle range was still in use. I always wondered exactly what it was. Now, 25 years later, I know!

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Uploaded on April 22, 2009
Taken on November 2, 2008