History (shamelessly 'borrowed' from Subbrit.org.uk)
During World War 2, the Southern Railway took over the Deepdene Hotel near Dorking in Surrey for its wartime emergency headquarters. In the grounds they excavated an underground control centre taking advantage of a network of existing natural caves that had been acknowledged 300 years before in the diaries of John Evelyn. Because of the natural protection afforded by the location of the caves they were eminently suitable for the development of a bunker to house both the headquarters' telephone exchange and Traffic Control who also had their underground control centre there.
Explore
It seems like this place ends up open at this sort of time each year and I had been keen to see it for myself when it started popping up in early 2018. On that occasion though we arrived to find a shiny new padlock in place after our 90 mile journey and vowed to return. Skip ahead to 2019 and I spotted some familiar pictures on social media. It's a pretty unique place in some respects so I knew where I was headed for the weekend.
Come Sunday morning we hopped in the car and were on our way. This time there was no disappointment. The place isn't huge but there is enough there to make it worth the journey. Certainly, I was so pleased to get to see it for myself. Other than the star attractions (namely the spiral stairs and switchboard) there remains a smattering of original features that I am glad I have seen with my own eyes.
I will say, this has been covered before in spectacular fashion on here, which I do not hope to live up to. That being said, we did take lighting (a little too much for the tight spaces perhaps) and it was my first attempt at illuminating an explore, so apologies if this is a tad washed out. Hope you like the pictures, they are unedited and just as they came out of the camera.
The lovely switchboard remains. This was great to be able to see after my last attempt.
And of course, those stairs.
Only went up a couple because a bashed my head on a very obvious piece of rusty metal. Not my finest hour.
Anyhow, thanks for looking and hope you enjoyed.
View attachment 796467
During World War 2, the Southern Railway took over the Deepdene Hotel near Dorking in Surrey for its wartime emergency headquarters. In the grounds they excavated an underground control centre taking advantage of a network of existing natural caves that had been acknowledged 300 years before in the diaries of John Evelyn. Because of the natural protection afforded by the location of the caves they were eminently suitable for the development of a bunker to house both the headquarters' telephone exchange and Traffic Control who also had their underground control centre there.
Explore
It seems like this place ends up open at this sort of time each year and I had been keen to see it for myself when it started popping up in early 2018. On that occasion though we arrived to find a shiny new padlock in place after our 90 mile journey and vowed to return. Skip ahead to 2019 and I spotted some familiar pictures on social media. It's a pretty unique place in some respects so I knew where I was headed for the weekend.
Come Sunday morning we hopped in the car and were on our way. This time there was no disappointment. The place isn't huge but there is enough there to make it worth the journey. Certainly, I was so pleased to get to see it for myself. Other than the star attractions (namely the spiral stairs and switchboard) there remains a smattering of original features that I am glad I have seen with my own eyes.
I will say, this has been covered before in spectacular fashion on here, which I do not hope to live up to. That being said, we did take lighting (a little too much for the tight spaces perhaps) and it was my first attempt at illuminating an explore, so apologies if this is a tad washed out. Hope you like the pictures, they are unedited and just as they came out of the camera.
The lovely switchboard remains. This was great to be able to see after my last attempt.
And of course, those stairs.
Only went up a couple because a bashed my head on a very obvious piece of rusty metal. Not my finest hour.
Anyhow, thanks for looking and hope you enjoyed.
View attachment 796467
