Dover is honeycombed with tunnels, mainly constructed during the Napoleonic wars and the Second World war (although many of these may have been reworkings of earlier storage tunnels). These tunnels in common with others along the seafront are thought likely to be ones built by French prisoners in the early 19th century. The name’s something I’ve never seen an explanation for – DOE used to be a grade of road surfacing aggregate but that’s not something valuable enough to store in a tunnel? The site used to be owned by the Dover Storage Company.
What’s really good about them is the variety of construction methods. There are unlined chalk tunnels with simple arched vaults, while others are taller and pointed topped. Meanwhile other sections have brick linings and superb cross vaulting of the quality you’d expect to see in a church.
Then there’s a tall bell-topped brick section possibly to a planned vent that was never completed. How was that built? Usually the bell tops (you can find these on top of wells and cisterns – if you’re ever drilling on a site and come across a sloping brick surface buried underground, it’s a good idea to stop drilling. Last time I know it happened the kango drill went straight through and dropped about 200 ft into the darkness of a very deep well – the guy operating it luckily didn’t follow)) are built from above onto a temporary wooden framework. Not so easy from below.
There’s also the blocked access to a secret platform connected to the railway main line – now all you can see of this from the DOE tunnels is a set of steps going down to a block wall. This is possibly the only 20th century part.
A fire in the last 20 or so years has damaged some sections which are now sealed off – you can see traces in some high level vents. It’s interesting that they cross ventilated several otherwise completely separated tunnel systems.
Interesting trace of an old poster going back to its time as an air raid shelter – you can just about make out the name Anderson (the Cabinet minister also responsible for the free issuing of the Anderson shelter)
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What’s really good about them is the variety of construction methods. There are unlined chalk tunnels with simple arched vaults, while others are taller and pointed topped. Meanwhile other sections have brick linings and superb cross vaulting of the quality you’d expect to see in a church.
Then there’s a tall bell-topped brick section possibly to a planned vent that was never completed. How was that built? Usually the bell tops (you can find these on top of wells and cisterns – if you’re ever drilling on a site and come across a sloping brick surface buried underground, it’s a good idea to stop drilling. Last time I know it happened the kango drill went straight through and dropped about 200 ft into the darkness of a very deep well – the guy operating it luckily didn’t follow)) are built from above onto a temporary wooden framework. Not so easy from below.
There’s also the blocked access to a secret platform connected to the railway main line – now all you can see of this from the DOE tunnels is a set of steps going down to a block wall. This is possibly the only 20th century part.
A fire in the last 20 or so years has damaged some sections which are now sealed off – you can see traces in some high level vents. It’s interesting that they cross ventilated several otherwise completely separated tunnel systems.
Interesting trace of an old poster going back to its time as an air raid shelter – you can just about make out the name Anderson (the Cabinet minister also responsible for the free issuing of the Anderson shelter)
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