So it’s doing the rounds again. Had a quick mooch on way back from somewhere else today. With @Stimpakman
The 172nd Tunnelling Company RE totaling some 120 men and joined by members newly experienced from building the Tunbridge Wells Bunker, arrived in South Heighton on 4th June 1941 to begin the work of tunnelling out the hillside below Denton House and to effectively connect the house with the B2109 road, now A26; with a large underground secure bunker.
On completion a vast underground labyrinth of tunnels was made accessible from room 16 at Denton House with 122 steps leading down to the secure communications centre 60ft below. There offices for wireless telegraphy, plotting, coding and telephone switch boards, signals distribution, sleeping accommodation and a simple canteen were constructed.
The tunnels had electric lighting and were fully air conditioned having two gas locks at either end where internal air pressure could be kept above atmospheric to prevent the ingress of gas. For defence 4 pillboxes were added to the hillside above each fitted with a machine gun and in addition an unusual observation post. This was a cleverly disguised “hen house” complete with two dozen chickens and was only accessible from inside the bunker by a stairway and a 26ft vertical ladder; the observation post also served as the bunkers emergency exit. It was in fact a superb piece of military construction second only in complexity to the tunnels under Dover Castle. This Naval HQ was renamed “HMS Forward” and the fact that this bunker was extremely well planned from the start and given its strong defences and internal security, it was likely designed to hold out “to the last man” should there have been a German invasion of the south coast
The tunnels officially came back to light on 12th December 1992 when after the Guinness Trust Home had reverted officially to Denton House was undergoing partial demolition for area redevelopment. Selected members of the Newhaven Historical Society became the first people to legally enter the tunnels since they were sealed in November 1945. A plaque found over the fireplace in the house confirmed the Naval HQ and had the dates 20th June 1940 and 31st August 1945 carved into it. The operational period of HMS Forward lasting a full five years.
Geoffrey Ellis of Newhaven Museum took it upon himself to be amongst the first people to enter the long sealed up bunker and to conduct a modern day survey with official permission from the property owners. His tireless work founded the “Friends of HMS Forward” conservation group and resulted in a book, “The Secret Tunnels of South Heighton” published by SB Publications in 1996. Any reader wishing to know more about the story of this bunker in exquisite detail should read a copy of this book. Recently a companion 70 minute DVD documentary film also available from Newhaven Museum, has been released.
Geoffrey Ellis campaigned relentlessly to try to get the bunker recognised as a national monument and thereby secure English Heritage funding to open it as a tourist attraction. However, modern political problems and the complex matters of fragmented ownership of the land above the bunker have unfortunately made this dream impossible and so the tunnels are again secured and abandoned awaiting a change of human perception. This is indeed a shame given the historical importance of the site and it is perhaps fool hardy to simply do nothing and allow the passage of time to initiate the inevitable collapses of the empty tunnels together with the potential destruction of the properties built above them.
The 172nd Tunnelling Company RE totaling some 120 men and joined by members newly experienced from building the Tunbridge Wells Bunker, arrived in South Heighton on 4th June 1941 to begin the work of tunnelling out the hillside below Denton House and to effectively connect the house with the B2109 road, now A26; with a large underground secure bunker.
On completion a vast underground labyrinth of tunnels was made accessible from room 16 at Denton House with 122 steps leading down to the secure communications centre 60ft below. There offices for wireless telegraphy, plotting, coding and telephone switch boards, signals distribution, sleeping accommodation and a simple canteen were constructed.
The tunnels had electric lighting and were fully air conditioned having two gas locks at either end where internal air pressure could be kept above atmospheric to prevent the ingress of gas. For defence 4 pillboxes were added to the hillside above each fitted with a machine gun and in addition an unusual observation post. This was a cleverly disguised “hen house” complete with two dozen chickens and was only accessible from inside the bunker by a stairway and a 26ft vertical ladder; the observation post also served as the bunkers emergency exit. It was in fact a superb piece of military construction second only in complexity to the tunnels under Dover Castle. This Naval HQ was renamed “HMS Forward” and the fact that this bunker was extremely well planned from the start and given its strong defences and internal security, it was likely designed to hold out “to the last man” should there have been a German invasion of the south coast
The tunnels officially came back to light on 12th December 1992 when after the Guinness Trust Home had reverted officially to Denton House was undergoing partial demolition for area redevelopment. Selected members of the Newhaven Historical Society became the first people to legally enter the tunnels since they were sealed in November 1945. A plaque found over the fireplace in the house confirmed the Naval HQ and had the dates 20th June 1940 and 31st August 1945 carved into it. The operational period of HMS Forward lasting a full five years.
Geoffrey Ellis of Newhaven Museum took it upon himself to be amongst the first people to enter the long sealed up bunker and to conduct a modern day survey with official permission from the property owners. His tireless work founded the “Friends of HMS Forward” conservation group and resulted in a book, “The Secret Tunnels of South Heighton” published by SB Publications in 1996. Any reader wishing to know more about the story of this bunker in exquisite detail should read a copy of this book. Recently a companion 70 minute DVD documentary film also available from Newhaven Museum, has been released.
Geoffrey Ellis campaigned relentlessly to try to get the bunker recognised as a national monument and thereby secure English Heritage funding to open it as a tourist attraction. However, modern political problems and the complex matters of fragmented ownership of the land above the bunker have unfortunately made this dream impossible and so the tunnels are again secured and abandoned awaiting a change of human perception. This is indeed a shame given the historical importance of the site and it is perhaps fool hardy to simply do nothing and allow the passage of time to initiate the inevitable collapses of the empty tunnels together with the potential destruction of the properties built above them.
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and open again atm
