Geograph - photograph every grid square

The old lambing shed has low (and very solid) concrete walls, and a corrugated iron roof, now very rusty. A smallish room at the nearer end of the building must have served as overnight accommodation for the shepherd, hence the chimney.

'Wick' is a common element in place names here on the North Kent Marshes and in similar areas across the river in Essex - generally denoting an isolated habitation. In the last couple of centuries the Kentish wicks were occupied seasonally, particularly at lambing time - but William Camden, writing early in the 17th century, says that in the Essex marshes 'wiches' were places where ewes were milked and cheese made. So perhaps they were inhabited all year round.

There are still Dowsetts living in Cliffe - and one member of the family told me how he helped his father build the wick that bears his name, in about 1946.

For a bit more background, and a view of the wider area, see: TQ7379 : View south from the seawall towards Dowsett's Wick, Cliffe Marshes