History
St Margaret's battery was one of the first of its kinds ever built in the Dover area east of St Margaret's. This was a British response to the threats posed by the guns installed by ze Germans across the channel. The battery was built above the shelter in the 1940's, however there is no sign of the battery which I believe was demolished in the 1970's above ground now. The battery when new housed four 5.5 inch naval cannons which were taken from the secondary armament of the battle cruiser HMS Hood during a refit. The guns were placed along the cliff top in 4 separate specifically constructed concrete gun houses. The batteries main anti aircraft defence was provided by an un-rotated projectile battery, known as Z-Rockets. The battery was manned by 4 officer’s and 165 others serving ranks of the 411 Battery, part of the 540 Coast Regiment, Royal Artillery. The 171 tunneling Company of the Royal Engineers dug out a shelter for the gun crews at the rear of the battery.
The shelter has 3,480ft of floor space and consists of two parallel tunnels, with three cross passages used for additional accommodation and support services. The deep shelter has three entrances, two where located behind the guns emplacements and a third exit was located close to the cliff edge.
Plan of St Margaret's
The explore
The access is the one which is literally a few steps back from the cliff edge. Its that close I wondered if I was having the piss taken out of me getting my leg over the thin wire fence which is the only barrier between the clifftop and the beach below. Once over the small wire fence you're greeted with a hole in the ground partially covered by a metal grate. Once into the hole its a pretty steep slope leading down. Theres nothing for grip other than a worn out piece of abseiling rope hanging from the grate and the odd bit of sketchy footing. Once at the bottom of the slope your immediately surprised to a see a rather large hole which gives a few of how far it is to the beach below (It's fooking high!!). Its pretty breathtaking from the clifftop above but the hole gives it a completely different perspective which kind of makes your tummy go. We went on a pretty windy day and the sound of the sea crashing below again was very cool. This is my first time I have done anything undergroud like this so I was definitely buzzing!!
We went through a fairly short tunnel which wasnt lined at all and what support you could see was rotten, if there at all. Once through the unlined part your into the section which is completely lined along with RSJ's. As soon as we got down into the shelter we started noticing some wierd shit being dotted about. The were odd spreads of stones and shells in the floor in vaious shapes. Some of these would even have small orange LED lights which were still visible and flickering. In other parts as you'll also see from the pictures various dolls had been cable tied up around the shelted. They again were very odd, barbies with pins sticking out of them, dolls with staples in their heads and just other random wierd shit. Someone had gpne to legths amd strung up plastic spiders on bits of cotton at various points through the shelter which kept catching me off guard FFS!! lol. If anyone could shed any light on what this was i'd love to know. Majority of me thinks possibly clickbait purposes?? The rest of the shelter is a bit of a tiny maze. The angles of floors and steps can throw you off and even more so when going back through shots. Theres not a great deal left but a great place all the same. I was a bit blown away by this eseciallly as it was my first real undergroud experience exploring. You can get a real sense of how things would have been like for those who were here. It just nuts to be in a place where all that was going on all them years ago as well.
Lastly can I just apologise for the picture quality. As said this was my first time underground, taking photos and was only armed with a torch, camera and few bits in my bag.
Please be gentle and thanks for taking a peek!!
St Margaret's battery was one of the first of its kinds ever built in the Dover area east of St Margaret's. This was a British response to the threats posed by the guns installed by ze Germans across the channel. The battery was built above the shelter in the 1940's, however there is no sign of the battery which I believe was demolished in the 1970's above ground now. The battery when new housed four 5.5 inch naval cannons which were taken from the secondary armament of the battle cruiser HMS Hood during a refit. The guns were placed along the cliff top in 4 separate specifically constructed concrete gun houses. The batteries main anti aircraft defence was provided by an un-rotated projectile battery, known as Z-Rockets. The battery was manned by 4 officer’s and 165 others serving ranks of the 411 Battery, part of the 540 Coast Regiment, Royal Artillery. The 171 tunneling Company of the Royal Engineers dug out a shelter for the gun crews at the rear of the battery.
The shelter has 3,480ft of floor space and consists of two parallel tunnels, with three cross passages used for additional accommodation and support services. The deep shelter has three entrances, two where located behind the guns emplacements and a third exit was located close to the cliff edge.
Plan of St Margaret's
The explore
The access is the one which is literally a few steps back from the cliff edge. Its that close I wondered if I was having the piss taken out of me getting my leg over the thin wire fence which is the only barrier between the clifftop and the beach below. Once over the small wire fence you're greeted with a hole in the ground partially covered by a metal grate. Once into the hole its a pretty steep slope leading down. Theres nothing for grip other than a worn out piece of abseiling rope hanging from the grate and the odd bit of sketchy footing. Once at the bottom of the slope your immediately surprised to a see a rather large hole which gives a few of how far it is to the beach below (It's fooking high!!). Its pretty breathtaking from the clifftop above but the hole gives it a completely different perspective which kind of makes your tummy go. We went on a pretty windy day and the sound of the sea crashing below again was very cool. This is my first time I have done anything undergroud like this so I was definitely buzzing!!
We went through a fairly short tunnel which wasnt lined at all and what support you could see was rotten, if there at all. Once through the unlined part your into the section which is completely lined along with RSJ's. As soon as we got down into the shelter we started noticing some wierd shit being dotted about. The were odd spreads of stones and shells in the floor in vaious shapes. Some of these would even have small orange LED lights which were still visible and flickering. In other parts as you'll also see from the pictures various dolls had been cable tied up around the shelted. They again were very odd, barbies with pins sticking out of them, dolls with staples in their heads and just other random wierd shit. Someone had gpne to legths amd strung up plastic spiders on bits of cotton at various points through the shelter which kept catching me off guard FFS!! lol. If anyone could shed any light on what this was i'd love to know. Majority of me thinks possibly clickbait purposes?? The rest of the shelter is a bit of a tiny maze. The angles of floors and steps can throw you off and even more so when going back through shots. Theres not a great deal left but a great place all the same. I was a bit blown away by this eseciallly as it was my first real undergroud experience exploring. You can get a real sense of how things would have been like for those who were here. It just nuts to be in a place where all that was going on all them years ago as well.
Lastly can I just apologise for the picture quality. As said this was my first time underground, taking photos and was only armed with a torch, camera and few bits in my bag.
Please be gentle and thanks for taking a peek!!