Came across this bunker whilst i was looking at info on Redhill bunker, which with Woking were the control centres for southern
railways , so just Woking to do now then1 I went here a couple of weeks before and spent about an hour searching before finding a one of the entrances which was welded shut, bad light meant i had to come back a week later, it only took me a short while to find an entrance and i was in! Once inside put on my mask because of the asbestos inside the bunker! Made my way through the bunkers to the end and came to a spiral staircase, i had read a report ( PHANTOM BISH ) who came down these steps, brave guys because its rusted to fuck and falling apart! Deepdene was a much bigger bunker than Redhill and there was plenty to see inside and out, the Dragons teeth around the outside which have been revealed by a big wood clearance,was pretty cool
Some history ( borrowed from subterranea brittania )
When the Southern Railway took over Deepdene House (also known as the Deepdene Hotel) for its wartime Headquarters it discovered that there were natural caves in the grounds. These caves 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 sites switchboard and the Traffic Control. The lawn between the caves and the house was used as a site for the 99foot mast supporting aerials of the emergency radio. The bunker was constructed within the caves which were enlarged to house the 30 staff and once complete their emergency headquarters with office staff was moved there from Waterloo.
The network of tunnels included a Control Room, meeting room, 3-position switchboard, battery room, main distribution frame (MDF)/maintainers room, a bedroom for the night officer and an air plant and toilet facilities. A 60-foot vertical shaft at the rear of the complex provided an air inlet and emergency exit. A 4 foot thick concrete slab covered the complex but no protection was provided against a ‘near miss’
The Southern Railway General Manager Eustace Missenden lived nearby and had a switchboard extension in his house. During the air raids he spent many nights there with his wife and it is reputed that the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill was a visitor.
The bunker consisted of a series of tunnels partly natural driven into the steep hillside to the rear of the former hotel. There were three entrances plus a fourth emergency exit accessed from the hillside 50 feet above via a spiral staircase.
Even after the war the exchange remained in use and one visitor in the 1960's remembers three operators and he noticed one of the side tunnels still contained bunk beds.
British Railways left Deepdene in the mid 1960's and the house was demolished in 1969 with a modern office block being built on the site. For many years the tunnels lay forgotten in the bushes to the rear of the office block but in 1997 local children started a small fire just inside one of the entrance tunnels and when the fire brigade came to extinguish the it they found the whole network was heavily contaminated with asbestos, so much so that they had to dispose of all their clothes after the incident.
As a result of this information, a survey of the tunnels by Redhill Analysts who confirmed that most of the complex and two of the small surface buildings were heavily contaminated with both white asbestos (Chrysotile) and blue asbestos (Crocidolite). Shortly afterwards all four entrances, and the contaminated surface buildings were sealed.
some pics
dragons teeth
You can see take this staircase is in bad shape
T
railways , so just Woking to do now then1 I went here a couple of weeks before and spent about an hour searching before finding a one of the entrances which was welded shut, bad light meant i had to come back a week later, it only took me a short while to find an entrance and i was in! Once inside put on my mask because of the asbestos inside the bunker! Made my way through the bunkers to the end and came to a spiral staircase, i had read a report ( PHANTOM BISH ) who came down these steps, brave guys because its rusted to fuck and falling apart! Deepdene was a much bigger bunker than Redhill and there was plenty to see inside and out, the Dragons teeth around the outside which have been revealed by a big wood clearance,was pretty cool Some history ( borrowed from subterranea brittania )
When the Southern Railway took over Deepdene House (also known as the Deepdene Hotel) for its wartime Headquarters it discovered that there were natural caves in the grounds. These caves 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 sites switchboard and the Traffic Control. The lawn between the caves and the house was used as a site for the 99foot mast supporting aerials of the emergency radio. The bunker was constructed within the caves which were enlarged to house the 30 staff and once complete their emergency headquarters with office staff was moved there from Waterloo.
The network of tunnels included a Control Room, meeting room, 3-position switchboard, battery room, main distribution frame (MDF)/maintainers room, a bedroom for the night officer and an air plant and toilet facilities. A 60-foot vertical shaft at the rear of the complex provided an air inlet and emergency exit. A 4 foot thick concrete slab covered the complex but no protection was provided against a ‘near miss’
The Southern Railway General Manager Eustace Missenden lived nearby and had a switchboard extension in his house. During the air raids he spent many nights there with his wife and it is reputed that the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill was a visitor.
The bunker consisted of a series of tunnels partly natural driven into the steep hillside to the rear of the former hotel. There were three entrances plus a fourth emergency exit accessed from the hillside 50 feet above via a spiral staircase.
Even after the war the exchange remained in use and one visitor in the 1960's remembers three operators and he noticed one of the side tunnels still contained bunk beds.
British Railways left Deepdene in the mid 1960's and the house was demolished in 1969 with a modern office block being built on the site. For many years the tunnels lay forgotten in the bushes to the rear of the office block but in 1997 local children started a small fire just inside one of the entrance tunnels and when the fire brigade came to extinguish the it they found the whole network was heavily contaminated with asbestos, so much so that they had to dispose of all their clothes after the incident.
As a result of this information, a survey of the tunnels by Redhill Analysts who confirmed that most of the complex and two of the small surface buildings were heavily contaminated with both white asbestos (Chrysotile) and blue asbestos (Crocidolite). Shortly afterwards all four entrances, and the contaminated surface buildings were sealed.
some pics
dragons teeth
You can see take this staircase is in bad shape
T
