real time web analytics
Report - - WW2 Deepdene Underground Control HQ - Jan 2015 | Military Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - WW2 Deepdene Underground Control HQ - Jan 2015

Hide this ad by donating or subscribing !

backwoodstramp

28DL Member
28DL Member
Visited Jan 2015 with 2 non-members.

Here's some history I've borrowed from Subbrit:

"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; this is now the Headquarters of Kuoni Travel. 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, Kuoni commissioned 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.

In June 1999 Subterranea Britannica approached Kuoni for permission to break into the tunnels to carry out a photographic survey and although English Heritage had previously been turned down permission was granted on the understanding that the entrance was repaired the same day and those people entering the tunnels signed a relevant disclaimer."

These pictures were taken on my phone - I haven't got the skill or the cash for real photography, just a love of old and derelict places! This is my first post so please let me know if it's OK or I've got it all wrong :)

10913713_10155085255540515_616087484_n_zps20cb9d1c.jpg


10888825_10155076120605515_7888094167064782085_n_zps879c5964.jpg



10802002_10155076113260515_6393940456487176955_n_zps167a1181.jpg


1800424_10155075940195515_1697244295008841976_n_zps9147abf7.jpg



10888960_10155076122570515_2437809955159486765_n_zpsd3d2cb5f.jpg


10921739_10155085258785515_596309277_n_zpsb17d9e4f.jpg


1_zps132fb9f2.jpg


4_zps7c45a244.jpg


3_zps5b122e5a.jpg
 
Last edited:

canute

货车司机和国王
28DL Full Member
Well done for braving the spiral stair :thumb

I'd really recommend trying to get a better camera and perhaps a tripod too as you'll find some of these underground spaces look fantastic. Check out some older posts by Styru who's got superb pictures from £10 cameras
 
Top