Military Tunnels in the White Cliffs of Dover

Dover has a huge system of military tunnels cut into the white chalk cliffs above the ferry terminal. They go back to the Napoleanic Wars. Placards in the site read:

"The tunnels were first excavated between 1797 and 1802 to provide extra accommodation for troops stationed at Dover Castle. In 1938 these original tunnels were modernised to become in part the naval headquarters of Vice-Admiral Bertram Ramsay, in charge of naval operations at Dover. The castle's defences, along with coastal artillery were also controlled from the tunnels."

"Immediately before war broke out in 1939, Vice-Admiral Ramsey had been in charge of converting the abandoned underground barracks into a naval headquarters, with an operations room, offices and living quarters. Also here were the coastal artillery operations headquarters, an anti-aircraft operations room and the headquarters of the fortress commander."

"Following the fall of France in 1940, the original tunnels of Casemate level were extended by two further levels. Above came Annexe, constructed as a secure underground hospital. Below came Dumpy, is larger spaces designed to be the heart of a new Combined Operations Headquarters for the Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and the Army, jointly charged with protecting the Straits of Dover and the coast of Kent."

What has been opened in the early 2000s are the WWII facilities — the Casemate and Annexe levels.

Sensor data was collected, organized, and analyzed. Definitely radar data, plus visual sightings of enemy ships and aircraft. Plus, probably, signal intercepts of German aircraft. Commands for intercept fighter missions and artillery fire were then issued from this complex.

Some of the data would have come from the Chain Home radar network, including a site just about 1.5 kilometers to the north-east. See my other page for pictures of the Swingate Chain Home radar site.

Below are some maps from the extremely useful U.K. Ordnance Survey site. Click on the maps for full-sized versions. First, Dover's relative location along the coastline in Kent:

Below at left: 1:50,000, and at right, 1:25,000 maps. The castle is immediately north and overlooking the center of the harbor. If you arrive by train, see Priory Station in the 1:50,000 map. The Swingate Chain Home radar site is shown as three radio masts to the north-east of the castle. It's marked on the 1:25,000 map as "W T Sta" for "Wireless Telegraphy Station". "C G Sta", or "Coast Guard Station", is a relatively smaller facility near the edge of the cliffs.

You can now take a tour of some of the tunnels, much of those used in WWII. However...

It continued in government service after the end of the war in 1945. It was maintained as an emergency regional seat of government 1963-1984, and some of the lower levels still contain classified government documents. The lower Dumpy level and possibly further tunnels below that were used during the Cold War as a more survivable monitoring and command center, and as a continuity-of-government facility.

The national government is working to remove classified material and sanitize the area. In a few years the tours may be able to go to lower levels and include the Cold War facilities.

Now for the pictures!

Dover Castle overlooks the city of Dover. You see it as you walk toward the center of Dover from the Priory Station rail station. Pass through the center of Dover and climb the hill to get to the castle.

Dover is at the extreme south-east corner of Britain, at the nearest point to the continent. It's just 35.2km (22 miles) across the Straits of Dover to France. The Dover ferry port is still busy despite competition from the Chunnel.

Once out of port the ferries have to negotiate what is said to be the busiest shipping lane in the world

Here you see a view down to the harbor from the entrance to the tunnels from the cliff face.

The entrance to the tunnels is literally on the cliff face.

Here is a the view inside some of the upper tunnels of the WWII era.

Some of the communications facilities are seen here. The facility gathered reports from radar and visual observation ports, as well as acoustic detection systems.

Here you see a view from slightly to the left of the above picture, more of the communication facilities.

Several communications patch panels are along the opposite wall.

A tunnel between the C³I area and the hospital was used as a work space during the war.

An area with a plotting table was used to track enemy and Allied aircraft.

The large plotting table was used to track the aircraft.

Chest-mounted communication gear connected to overhead wiring relayed position reports..

Clear plotting boards stand to either side of another plotting table.

This room was used for tracking and communicating with Allied aircraft. Status boards on the wall at rear indicated the state of those aircraft. A clear plotting board nearby tracked their positions.

The status and plotting boards are under a barrel-shaped ceiling carved out of the thick layers of chalk making up the cliffs.

The cliff faces are up to 106 meters high, and were formed about 136 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period when the area was submerged under deep tropical waters.

Dimly lit tunnels connect the larger rooms in the enormous facility.

This system in one of the communications rooms looks like a radioteletype reperforating gear (directly in front of the chair) and some test equipment.

Large racks of signal repeating equipment fill another communications room.

A smaller patch panel in one of the communications rooms.

The radioteletype reperforating equipment.

One of the communications rooms — switchboards.

One of the communications rooms — signal repeating equipment in large racks.

One of the communications rooms — RTTY reperforator.

One of the communications rooms.

And when you were shut in the tunnels for a long time, you needed all the facilities. Also see my Toilets of the World page...

Outside you find one of the Napolean-era entrances to part of the facility. A double spiral staircase doubles the number of men who could enter or exit in a given time.

Air vents are scattered through the surrounding woods.

Yet another WWII-era part of the complex.

• The nearby Swingate Chain Home radar site
• My UK travel page
• My general travel page
• My INFOSEC / military history tourism Page

© Bob Cromwell Oct 2008. Created with /bin/vi and ImageMagick, hosted on OpenBSD with Apache.    Root password available here