One last look back at the entrance before starting off down the tunnel. The doors here are steel panels but are not believed to be original equipment they were probably added just prior to the site being sold off as surplus to military requirements or as a deterrent to intruders while the site was awaiting sale.
Even after more than 40 years, the tunnel is still dry and a pleasant, cool, temperature is maintained naturally throughout. The floor would once have been immaculately polished but the National Servicemen responsible for this finish have long since departed. The tunnel is about 100 yards long and slopes gently down into the hill. Cable ties are fixed all along the tunnel and mains electricity was laid in all the way from the Steyning area. Since buying it, the present owner has had the whole place re-wired so the present lighting is much more modern than the bunker. The present owner can just be glimpsed in this photograph having just opened the first set of doors (above) leading into the tunnel.
Having bought the site in 1965, the owner held a number of charity balls and also leased out part of the bunker for secure document storage. These days it is completely abandoned and kept secure because of the potential dangers. The length of the tunnel is exaggerated by the lighting and the lack of visual clues. Even from halfway down it still seems to stretch on for ever and evokes just the right atmosphere for such a visit.
At the end of the corridor is a dog-leg to the left then a short corridor leading to another set of security doors. The tunnel slopes gently downwards throughout its length and ends up some 50 feet below the ground above. The length of the tunnel and the dog-leg would serve to dissipate much of the energy of any blast wave that entered it thus offering protection to the operational parts of the bunker.
Although not meant to be blast-proof the doors at the end are extremely strong and would withstand a great deal of force. They would certainly resist the efforts of interlopers attempting to gain unauthorised access. At first glance they are similar to the first set, at the start of the tunnel but they are much stronger. At least one opinion is that these were not part of the original installation and were added after the bunker became operational. Alternatively, they may have been added after the bunker was abandoned by the RAF but this not very likely.
The doors are, in fact, doubled up. Inside the first set are a second pair and, when all were closed they they would resist all but the severest force. There are no handles on the outside but there are bars on the inside that fit into the floor. The outer doors also have a couple of welded hasps on them indicating that they could be locked from the outside if necessary but, again, it is difficult to tell if these are a later addition. In any event, they are a massive ‘overkill’ if their only purpose was to keep out casual intruders.
Sunday 26 April 2009 at 18:57:26
Just as i remember it as an adventerous child me and another like minded band of friends broke the single padlock securing the outer blast doors to see for our selves if there really was a network of tunnels under the hill many hours of fun and games ensued untill such time that our breach of the security of the bunker had been detected when it was resealed
Friday 8 May 2009 at 18:45:47
What a great memory – and probably in the days where kids were allowed to be kids, and no malice was intended, just curiousity (did I spell that right??) Nowadays, you’d be banged up!