Hello lads,
This is a short one, but I wanted to do this place nonetheless, me and my trusty cameraman headed to Paulsgrove chalk pit, not expecting to actually find the place. It turns out I'd been looking along the wrong section of the cliff the whole time, and my cameraman spotted it before I even noticed it.
THE HISTORY: Designed to work in conjunction with the UGHQ underneath Fort Southwick, construction of this small radio bunker started in May of 1942, long in preparation for the D-Day operations.
The large antennas required to send messages across to Normandy were huge targets for German bombings, presenting a risk of the UGHQ being collapsed in bombing raids, hence the antennas were placed along the cliff atop of Paulsgrove chalk pit, directing any potential bombing runs away from the fort. The radio bunker itself was dug directly under the antennas to make the wiring process easy, and to keep the cable from losing too much power. This radio bunker and Fort Southwick were linked by secure COMMS lines, this radio bunker essentially being the UGHQ's ears during the critical hours of D-Day.
THE PLACE: As of when we visited, the bunker itself is still in good condition, minus some fire damage and a fair amount of graffiti. The lining is also in rather good condition. It's nothing big, and it doesn't really take long to absorb the place, but it's still interesting to think it was once the very bunker that was dishing out the orders from command on D-Day. The entrances are around 10-15m up quite a slippery chalk cliff. (The entrances would have been at ground level during WW2. The chalk pit was quarried in the 1970s.) The layout is quite simple, and will be explained by the photos.
THE PHOTOS:
The east escape exit, this is how we got in, since the west main entrance is much harder to reach. If you're tall, you may have trouble.
Now facing the other way - The short tunnel leading to the bigger one of the two main COMMS rooms.
Coming into the main COMMS rooms from the escape tunnel.
This large hole in the wall was for the COMMS cables, if you look into this hole, you'll see the borehole leading all the way up to the surface, where the cable would've linked to the antennas.
Probably the best angle of this room we could get, the dust seems to want to mess it up though. Why it's only lined up to a certain point is what intrigues me.
Up I go. The concrete stairs linking the two COMMS rooms, note the channel on the right side of the steps for the cables.
The second, smaller COMMS room. It's a tad fire damaged. Note the hole in the floor to the right, this was likely for some sort of radio equipment.
Moving out into the main entrance corridor. There's a large dead-end tunnel up ahead, just by the door.
The dead-end tunnel. I don't really know what this was used for.
I was quite comfy up here... Until I had to get down.
'Do you like my hole?' - Rainey 2019.
That's it lads. Thank you for reading.
I'm glad to have done this place, it went a lot better than I thought it was going to. Mind you, that's probably due to my... Previous experience with this damned cliff.
- Rainey
This is a short one, but I wanted to do this place nonetheless, me and my trusty cameraman headed to Paulsgrove chalk pit, not expecting to actually find the place. It turns out I'd been looking along the wrong section of the cliff the whole time, and my cameraman spotted it before I even noticed it.
THE HISTORY: Designed to work in conjunction with the UGHQ underneath Fort Southwick, construction of this small radio bunker started in May of 1942, long in preparation for the D-Day operations.
The large antennas required to send messages across to Normandy were huge targets for German bombings, presenting a risk of the UGHQ being collapsed in bombing raids, hence the antennas were placed along the cliff atop of Paulsgrove chalk pit, directing any potential bombing runs away from the fort. The radio bunker itself was dug directly under the antennas to make the wiring process easy, and to keep the cable from losing too much power. This radio bunker and Fort Southwick were linked by secure COMMS lines, this radio bunker essentially being the UGHQ's ears during the critical hours of D-Day.
THE PLACE: As of when we visited, the bunker itself is still in good condition, minus some fire damage and a fair amount of graffiti. The lining is also in rather good condition. It's nothing big, and it doesn't really take long to absorb the place, but it's still interesting to think it was once the very bunker that was dishing out the orders from command on D-Day. The entrances are around 10-15m up quite a slippery chalk cliff. (The entrances would have been at ground level during WW2. The chalk pit was quarried in the 1970s.) The layout is quite simple, and will be explained by the photos.
THE PHOTOS:
The east escape exit, this is how we got in, since the west main entrance is much harder to reach. If you're tall, you may have trouble.
Now facing the other way - The short tunnel leading to the bigger one of the two main COMMS rooms.
Coming into the main COMMS rooms from the escape tunnel.
This large hole in the wall was for the COMMS cables, if you look into this hole, you'll see the borehole leading all the way up to the surface, where the cable would've linked to the antennas.
Probably the best angle of this room we could get, the dust seems to want to mess it up though. Why it's only lined up to a certain point is what intrigues me.
Up I go. The concrete stairs linking the two COMMS rooms, note the channel on the right side of the steps for the cables.
The second, smaller COMMS room. It's a tad fire damaged. Note the hole in the floor to the right, this was likely for some sort of radio equipment.
Moving out into the main entrance corridor. There's a large dead-end tunnel up ahead, just by the door.
The dead-end tunnel. I don't really know what this was used for.
I was quite comfy up here... Until I had to get down.
'Do you like my hole?' - Rainey 2019.
That's it lads. Thank you for reading.
I'm glad to have done this place, it went a lot better than I thought it was going to. Mind you, that's probably due to my... Previous experience with this damned cliff.
- Rainey
