Visited with: @UrbanZ and @Dora Grew Up.
History (Stolen from Subbrit):
The Regimental Headquarters of 540 Coast Regiment Royal Artillery was mainly based in wartime surface buildings adjacent to South Foreland Lighthouse. Staff slept in the Lower Lighthouse, and there was an underground Plotting Room as well as a deep shelter for RHQ staff nearby.
540 Coast Regiment was in charge of the guns to the east of Dover (Fan Bay, Wanstone Farm and South Foreland Batteries), while 520 Coastal Regiment manned the guns to the west of Dover (Capel, Lydden Spout, Hougham and Citadel batteries). When either the east or west guns acted collectively they were designated as a Fortress and had, at South Foreland and Hougham respectively, a Fortress Plotting Room which controlled their complement of guns. Hougham’s was combined with the Battery Plotting Room which is the reason for its larger size, while at South Foreland the two Plotting Rooms were several hundred meters apart.
Explore:
With help from Dora and some non-members we quickly found the entrance to the site, hidden in a mound in woods just off a main footpath. Watching Dora and UrbanZ squeezing through the small gap into the bunker was one funny sight, legs waving all over the place.
After squeezing through the metal bars we were greeted by a cover containing a small hole which lead down to the bunker. The layout of the bunker was quite strange, having an extremely thin passageway which got progressively smaller in height the further in you go. I know in the past people may have been smaller in stature, but unless the MOD employed umpa lumpas I have no idea what this section would have been used for.
The bunker was quite bare inside with only a few rusted ventilation pipes and plant, but all in all it was in quite good condition with no obvious structural damage, and a worthwhile explore.
Onto the pics:
Inside concrete structure looking at the entrance to bunker.
Looking back up at entrance and ventilation pipes.
First room entered after descending the ladder.
The extremely narrow and small umpa lumpa passageway leading to a dead end.
Ventilation plant room.
Plotting room.
8.
Doorways leading to rear of shelter.
10.
Ventilation ducts.
Passageway at rear of shelter.
First ever attempt at light painting. Pretty pathetic I know, think we need a bit more practice.
UrbanZ trying to get out.
Thanks for looking.
History (Stolen from Subbrit):
The Regimental Headquarters of 540 Coast Regiment Royal Artillery was mainly based in wartime surface buildings adjacent to South Foreland Lighthouse. Staff slept in the Lower Lighthouse, and there was an underground Plotting Room as well as a deep shelter for RHQ staff nearby.
540 Coast Regiment was in charge of the guns to the east of Dover (Fan Bay, Wanstone Farm and South Foreland Batteries), while 520 Coastal Regiment manned the guns to the west of Dover (Capel, Lydden Spout, Hougham and Citadel batteries). When either the east or west guns acted collectively they were designated as a Fortress and had, at South Foreland and Hougham respectively, a Fortress Plotting Room which controlled their complement of guns. Hougham’s was combined with the Battery Plotting Room which is the reason for its larger size, while at South Foreland the two Plotting Rooms were several hundred meters apart.
Explore:
With help from Dora and some non-members we quickly found the entrance to the site, hidden in a mound in woods just off a main footpath. Watching Dora and UrbanZ squeezing through the small gap into the bunker was one funny sight, legs waving all over the place.
After squeezing through the metal bars we were greeted by a cover containing a small hole which lead down to the bunker. The layout of the bunker was quite strange, having an extremely thin passageway which got progressively smaller in height the further in you go. I know in the past people may have been smaller in stature, but unless the MOD employed umpa lumpas I have no idea what this section would have been used for.
The bunker was quite bare inside with only a few rusted ventilation pipes and plant, but all in all it was in quite good condition with no obvious structural damage, and a worthwhile explore.
Onto the pics:
Inside concrete structure looking at the entrance to bunker.
Looking back up at entrance and ventilation pipes.
First room entered after descending the ladder.
The extremely narrow and small umpa lumpa passageway leading to a dead end.
Ventilation plant room.
Plotting room.
8.
Doorways leading to rear of shelter.
10.
Ventilation ducts.
Passageway at rear of shelter.
First ever attempt at light painting. Pretty pathetic I know, think we need a bit more practice.
UrbanZ trying to get out.
Thanks for looking.
Last edited:
. Not as much as we wanted, but rest assured we'll be back. Dover left me with some fond memories.
.
