Frosty
January 11th, 2010, 03:10
Visisted with fortknox0 and obscurity.
St Augustines caves were a heavily sought after section of tunnels underneath 'the grange' in Ramsgate, they were used during both world wars and were capable of sheltering thousands of civilians.
They were very extensive and even contained an underground ballroom!
Unfortunately most of the network has been lost due to a sever cliff collapse, which was probably caused due to severe weakening of the cliff face with extensive digging, bombing and severe weather. The rest of the tunnels are probably still there just waiting to be found.
The grange was originally an architechts house, his name was Augustus welby pugin, also the designer of various tunnels and buildings around the country, it is now owned by monks, who soon, unfortunately are likely to be moving out due to heating costs and other such costs of such an old and large building.
Access was originally via openings in the cliff at the bottom and stairs at the top for public access, and a private acess from inside the grange itself, the access point from inside the grange has only been opened once and probably will not be opened again.
Unfortunately this is aonly a small section of what would have once been an amazing network.
hope you enjoy the few photos i have :)
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2692/4264153385_14c33b09f8.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2723/4264146931_4305bba9ec.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2802/4264144113_a98773dd64.jpg
The above image is quite interesting, due to the year of construction of this network, the carved graffiti in the stone clearly shows the date 1867, im not sure what it was doing in here and what a&c means, perhaps a company of some sort from the time.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4025/4264141115_46e6fe86a3.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2695/4264889306_84f61b1717.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4011/4264886730_7a53335bae.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2758/4264884034_6e6c0b0ddf.jpg
Here are a few old photos showing the cliff collapse, and an even older photo showing the original entrances and grange from just off shore.
These were borrowed from micheals book store, many thanks.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4005/4264932182_81551a4c37.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2775/4264180365_8925572bd0.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4012/4264931792_e6d5c4fcc2.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4053/4264180071_3ea15f5455.jpg
thanks for looking!
Frosty.
St Augustines caves were a heavily sought after section of tunnels underneath 'the grange' in Ramsgate, they were used during both world wars and were capable of sheltering thousands of civilians.
They were very extensive and even contained an underground ballroom!
Unfortunately most of the network has been lost due to a sever cliff collapse, which was probably caused due to severe weakening of the cliff face with extensive digging, bombing and severe weather. The rest of the tunnels are probably still there just waiting to be found.
The grange was originally an architechts house, his name was Augustus welby pugin, also the designer of various tunnels and buildings around the country, it is now owned by monks, who soon, unfortunately are likely to be moving out due to heating costs and other such costs of such an old and large building.
Access was originally via openings in the cliff at the bottom and stairs at the top for public access, and a private acess from inside the grange itself, the access point from inside the grange has only been opened once and probably will not be opened again.
Unfortunately this is aonly a small section of what would have once been an amazing network.
hope you enjoy the few photos i have :)
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2692/4264153385_14c33b09f8.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2723/4264146931_4305bba9ec.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2802/4264144113_a98773dd64.jpg
The above image is quite interesting, due to the year of construction of this network, the carved graffiti in the stone clearly shows the date 1867, im not sure what it was doing in here and what a&c means, perhaps a company of some sort from the time.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4025/4264141115_46e6fe86a3.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2695/4264889306_84f61b1717.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4011/4264886730_7a53335bae.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2758/4264884034_6e6c0b0ddf.jpg
Here are a few old photos showing the cliff collapse, and an even older photo showing the original entrances and grange from just off shore.
These were borrowed from micheals book store, many thanks.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4005/4264932182_81551a4c37.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2775/4264180365_8925572bd0.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4012/4264931792_e6d5c4fcc2.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4053/4264180071_3ea15f5455.jpg
thanks for looking!
Frosty.