Report - Dover day feb 15

[monk]

Great day getting cut muddy and bruised exploring some of our old haunts down Dover, with Riddlers tiddlers twisted & my kids in tow.



We started of at arhcliffe gallery from which our clothes went from clean to dirty in 0.1 of a second, then moved to the ditches of the detached for a mooch before moving onto the oil mills.
oil mills

These tunnels in Limekiln Street were most likely dug in the early to mid 19th Century to extract chalk for burning and turning into lime. The limekilns, which gave the street its name, were located nearby. It is probable that the lime and excavated chalk were used in the construction of Dover Harbour. Almost cavernous in places, the extent of these tunnels is impressive and it is not surprising they've had many uses over the years including WW2 shelters and storage. The tunnels are cut directly into the cliff, some are very short and end after a few feet, whereas others go back a few hundred feet and join up, the ceilings are up to 30ft high in places. There is much evidence of alteration over the years, including the addition of blast walls. The condition inside the majority of the tunnels is reasonable, although there are some collapses in an area in which some pallets caught fire some years ago. This area has been bricked up and has been abandoned, but other sections are lit and are still used for storage. Further up the cliff face, a large horse shoe shaped tunnel with blast walls exists, but has been damaged and is unstable due to the fire below. The Eastern most tunnel has steps down to the nearby railway tunnel, but has been sealed at the bottom.

After this we moved onto the plotting room

Just past the Cookhouse and Mess is the Battery Plotting Room (BPR), this was the control room for the guns and also housed the Battery Command Post. The larger room was the plotting room itself and doors lead off it into smaller rooms which housed the ventilation plant and probably mess rooms.
Lydden Spout Battery is one of a number of coastal batteries established during WW2 along the Kent Coast. It was built in 1941 and manned by men of 520 Coastal Regiment Royal Artillery. The battery was located on the south side of a dead end minor road running west from Dover (now the A20) and in April 1941 was armed with three 6" Mk. VII naval guns on Mk. V mountings. These were later changed to Mk. XXIV guns on Mk. V mountings. They were 45 degree high angle guns giving then a longer range and they fired a 102lb shell a maximum of 24,550 yards on a full charge. The battery is identical to Fan Bay Battery on the east side of Dover.

Then onto lydden spout deep shelter

Situated on the cliffs between Folkestone and Dover. Built during WW2, the Lydden Spout Deep Shelter was part of the site for a battery of six inch long range guns on the cliff tops above the spring known as Lydden Spout. There were also quite a few surface buildings and three underground magazines. Most of the surface building have gone leaving just two which are used as cattle sheds. One interesting feature of this site was the water supply, which I believe came from the spring at the bottom of the cliffs several hundred feet below. A chamber had been hollowed out of the cliff at the base of the spring and ram pumps installed to pump water up to the cliff top. Ram pumps work by using the energy of the flowing water to raise some of the water higher, and need no other power source or engine.

 

[wellingtonian]

Like it. Cheers.

 

[ACID- REFLUX]

Very nice mate
Enjoyed that cheers

(Just need picture size increasing )

 

[Punk]

Good stuff

 

[monk]

cheers, you'd be able to see how shit the pictures really are if i make them to big

 

[Oxygen Thief]

Always a good day out !

 

[Maniac]

Lydden Spout - I'm amazed the access for that hasn't caved in yet!

 

[monk]

I think that every time I've been there, im sure i read somewhere its been like that for twenty odd years.

 

[Lenston]

Some nice pics there, cheers for posting up

 

[brandon.w123]

Were exactly is this can you please tell me as thinking of going there and would like to be able to get directions from deal

Thanks

 

[Seffy]

Pukka that is man, good combo of photos.

 

[REEF]

Only just seen this, good work mate. Proper family day out