History:
| Nicknamed locally as ‘The Wilderness’, this bunker is situated in Hargate Forest which is land owned by the Marques of Abergavenny. No records remain so its history has been pieced together from local knowledge and the recollections of those involved in its construction. For research I am indebted to Nick Catford’s 2003 report for some of the information herein. The bunker was built during the Second World War between 1940 and 1941 as part of the ‘stop lines’ created across the east and south of England to repel a possible invasion by Hitler. The area of Tunbridge Wells was under the command of XII Corp, formed in 1940 part of Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces. Between 1940 and 1941 XII Corp was commanded by General Sir Andrew Thorne and from 27 April 1941 until 13 August 1942 by then Lieutenant-General Sir Bernard Montgomery (Later Field Marshall Montgomery of Alamein) who had his HQ at nearby 10 Broadwater Down. Though Gen. Montgomery denied it when asked about the Wilderness in 1969, it seemed reasonable to assume, given its proximity to his HQ that it might have been built for his use. It was dug by 172 Tunnelling Company, part of the Royal Engineers, under Major Foss powered by 20 Bomb Disposal Company (Tunbridge Wells) and may have briefly housed a detachment of the Royal Corp of Signals. ‘We started work in 1940. It took about a year to build. It was a pretty dodgy job because it was sandstone rock all the way down and the drill bit kept getting stuck in cracks and fissures in the rock. We blasted our way in to begin with, but a lot of blasting powder fell into the cracks in the rock and we had a lot of misfires – it was quite dangerous … We had a lot of rock-falls and water trouble, one group continuously manned pumps to keep out the water.’ – Interview with Mr Richard Hayward, 172 Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers. What is certain was that the tunnels were never used by General Montgomery as he did not like the idea of subterranean HQ’s, the threatened invasion never materialised and quite likely by the water issue which plagues the site to this day. Visit: The bunker is accessed by three brick built block houses on the surface of the forest. These blockhouses are usually barricaded at both the entrances and at the top of the staircases themselves but are often broken into. There is also evidence of a concrete blockage about 30 feet below the surface but again these have been smashed through. The stairs descend about 60 feet down into the sand stone. Beneath the forest are two parallel corridors approximately 120 yards long and 5 yards apart. These corridors are connected by 8 conduits which form rooms. The tunnels are lined with corrugated iron reinforced at intervals by girders. The concrete steps beneath are beset with rubble and the rubbish people have through the gap in the barricade over the years. Occasionally the bedrock can be seen through an opening in the lining. Sandstone is relatively porous and where I could see it exposed it also wept with water from the surface above. It was no wonder therefore that when I reached the bottom the entire tunnel network was flooded to the roof. Even were it not so I can see that it has been filled with rubble. The air was hot and humid and not very pleasant. Blockhouse C seemed to be the easiest to access from the surface but one cannot pass further once at the bottom of the stairs. One might have more luck from Blockhouses A or B though in both of these I saw large number of large and sinister-looking False Widow-type spiders together with their nests. This is the third time I have visited this site. The first was in my childhood in the early 90’s and the second in August 2016 almost five years ago to the day. I have seen photographs of this site where the water has receded to such an extent that it might be possible to wade but I would wait for a drought year before attempting any serious expedition. 
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I remember at one time there were 2, this one and the iconic union Jack one lol. Always thought about going back with another dingy and have a proper look about, but with water receding and so much sharp things in the water, not worth the risk.
