After Friday evening's fun and games at Henley's Air Shelter in Gravesend, Saturday morning saw us Dover bound - with a couple of locations that were basically guaranteed, and one or two that required some further research. The first stop? One of our guaranteed ones - Dumpy B.
History
A recent structure by the standards of Dover, Dumpy B was built in 1942 as a communications bunker. Constructed as a pair of parallel tunnels, Dumpy B contained communications equipment and accomodation for the personnel required to operate it. The original entrance - for use by people on foot - has long since been backfilled. In contrast to similar bunkers, Dumpy B has a few idiosyncracies - including features of the ventilation, and the lining of the tunnels. Sub Brit has a quite extensive write-up on the location.
The Visit
Our first destination was the site of the original - now closed - entrance; an unlined chalk passage running at quite a steep gradiant. Interestingly someone has also tried to access the top, as seen by the presence of rope. On a tight schedule we opted to remain in the lower chambers though.
Like many other sites, Dumpy B has become something of a "living guest book", with various names chalked in to the walls - whilst there's many recent ones, some of the dates go back to the 1970s. Although, that's not to say that names are the only artistic impressions chalked on the walls, on the contrary - one alternative even has a room dedicated to it...
With the cries of "that looks quite decent, I may take a photo of tha... nevermind, there's a giant cock in the shot" behind us, we continued our jaunt through the various rooms and corridors.
Although very little of this complex actually hints at it's prior use, it has become synonymous with one particular sight - and although it was a quick "point and shoot!" shot, it would've been remiss not to have had a quick snap:
...and, finally - of course - the obligatory silhoette shot that all the cool kids do.
Final Thoughts
Honestly? I was never really in to this kind of location - i.e. the archetypal Dover underground bunker, one without any real connection to it's previous use. This was actually a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend an afternoon though, and even if I originally viewed it as simply "a place to tick off on the way elsewhere", I now think it's definitely worthy of a visit in it's own right!
History
A recent structure by the standards of Dover, Dumpy B was built in 1942 as a communications bunker. Constructed as a pair of parallel tunnels, Dumpy B contained communications equipment and accomodation for the personnel required to operate it. The original entrance - for use by people on foot - has long since been backfilled. In contrast to similar bunkers, Dumpy B has a few idiosyncracies - including features of the ventilation, and the lining of the tunnels. Sub Brit has a quite extensive write-up on the location.
The Visit
Our first destination was the site of the original - now closed - entrance; an unlined chalk passage running at quite a steep gradiant. Interestingly someone has also tried to access the top, as seen by the presence of rope. On a tight schedule we opted to remain in the lower chambers though.
Like many other sites, Dumpy B has become something of a "living guest book", with various names chalked in to the walls - whilst there's many recent ones, some of the dates go back to the 1970s. Although, that's not to say that names are the only artistic impressions chalked on the walls, on the contrary - one alternative even has a room dedicated to it...
With the cries of "that looks quite decent, I may take a photo of tha... nevermind, there's a giant cock in the shot" behind us, we continued our jaunt through the various rooms and corridors.
Although very little of this complex actually hints at it's prior use, it has become synonymous with one particular sight - and although it was a quick "point and shoot!" shot, it would've been remiss not to have had a quick snap:
...and, finally - of course - the obligatory silhoette shot that all the cool kids do.
Final Thoughts
Honestly? I was never really in to this kind of location - i.e. the archetypal Dover underground bunker, one without any real connection to it's previous use. This was actually a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend an afternoon though, and even if I originally viewed it as simply "a place to tick off on the way elsewhere", I now think it's definitely worthy of a visit in it's own right!