Report - W T Henley Deep Shelter - Northfleet - July 20

[Bikin Glynn]

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William Thomas Henley was born in Midhurst, Sussex in 1814 and started his working life as a porter and docker working in London. Through force of character, hard work and by educating himself in the sciences, Henley was later able to found his own business.
He took an active interest in new technologies of the era which included telegraphic cable. He developed the first machine to cover wire cables. His machine is displayed at the Science Museum in London

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Business grew rapidly and in 1859 he set up his cable works at North Woolwich. Henley was an early pioneer of submarine cable manufacture and was involved in many prestigious projects including the first cable across the North Atlantic. The company operated their own cable laying ships. Not bad for a man who started as a docker.
In 1906 a bigger site was needed and the cable works next to the Thames in Northfleet was established. In 1959, W T Henley & Co was taken over by the AEI conglomerate. AEI was in turn taken over by industrial giant GEC in 1967. Finally in 1997 the cable operations were divested to T T Electronics.

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During the second world war, Henleys were involved in several important military projects. They manufactured degaussing equipment for ships to counteract the threat of German magnetic mines and submarine indicator loops. They made components for PLUTO (pipeline under the ocean) that was used to pump fuel from England to France after the D-Day landings in 1944.

The factory at Northfleet is long gone the the deep shelter built into the cliff face to protect the workforce still remains.
Immediately as lockdown ended I was assigned to a job in Gravesend & my boss was good enough to get us a B & B literally standing on top of the shelters. Would of been rude not to so a quick solo evening eplore was undertaken.

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This has been covered many times I know & the pics are a bit "samey" but Ill just go with it.

Generator / ventilation room

An alarming amount of chemical toilets, if anyone is looking for one for a ROC restoration there is a few to choose from

The place is huge but repetitive, the seat numbers are testament to the amount of people the bunker would of protected

It is a struggle to get a shot without graffiti in these days though ;-(

& a nice bit of art on the way out

Thanks For Looking
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[HughieD]

That's really nice. Fantastic set of pix mate and love the old signage.

 

[Scoobysrt]

I don't remember seeing this before, top job that, very interesting history as well

 

[Bikin Glynn]

That's really nice. Fantastic set of pix mate and love the old signage.

Thanks mate

 

[Bikin Glynn]

I don't remember seeing this before, top job that, very interesting history as well

Also called AEI shelter, there is dozens of reports

 

[Scoobysrt]

Seems I have seen it as I've commented on previous threads, memory like a sieve.
I still enjoyed your take on it non the less.

 

[Down and beyond]

Hello mate !
Another Stella report I see looks very nice hope it didn’t stink inside for you , loving the photos did you have water on the lense on picture 2
haven’t been online for a while been super busy with the usual work /caving /mines.
Done a few cracking caves lately you would of loved one of them it was so tight for a good few hundred meters my nose was on the floor and having to pull myself with my finger tips ,definitely popped my rib out was well worth it for the 60ft free climb on the water fall , my I phone didn’t enjoy the free dive in the sump so I’ll have to get a new one and pm you new number .

stay safe on them spikey Fences ! Looks like your turning the right way away from the day light.

dnb

 

[Bikin Glynn]

Pic 2 is called "selective focusing2 ;-)

Though it sounds ace not sure I would of liked your crawling about, but sure there are others on here that can handle that sort of thing ;-)

 

[Down and beyond]

I see that’s what your trying to do ! Understand a bit better now thanks for explaining.

ye I have met one so far @Lord Oort enough said

 

[Calamity Jane]

Great shots there. Seems there are a few bits Ive not seen before. Ive been a few times as very local to me, but never seen the generator room, strange. Must re visit

 

[Bikin Glynn]

Great shots there. Seems there are a few bits Ive not seen before. Ive been a few times as very local to me, but never seen the generator room, strange. Must re visit

Thanks Jane, I believe its along main corridor on left as u go in (so prob between some of the cliff entrances)

 

[Calamity Jane]

Thanks Jane, I believe its along main corridor on left as u go in (so prob between some of the cliff entrances)

Cheers, will have to take a wander around when time allows