Saturday 25 January 2014
Tunbridge Wells Tunnels
Tunbridge Wells Tunnels A system of flooded tunnels lies sixty feet below Hargate Forest on Broadwater Down in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
Friday 24 January 2014
Shorts Brothers Seaplane Factory and public air raid shelter
2009 trip to Shorts Brothers Seaplane Factory and public air raid shelter. This video is mainly music from tomb raider 6 soundtrack.
Tuesday 21 January 2014
Plymouth Maritime Headquarters (Mount Wise)
A massive complex of tunnels from WW2 used for radio, telephone and telegraph.
more info on the subbrit website:
http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/sites/m/mount_wise/index1.html
IKS Production 2009
Soundtrack: Tomb Raider 6
A private trip in 2009/2010
Monday 20 January 2014
Eastry Mental Hospital, Kent (Super 8mm Cine Film)
A Short film shot on a Canon Super 8mm camera shot at the remains of Eastry Hospital.
Shorts Brothers Seaplane Factory, Rochester
Rochester - Shorts Brothers Seaplane Factory and public air raid shelter
Eastry Mental Hospital, Kent
2006 trailer into the Eastry Mental, Institution.
These buildings have long since gone, filmed 2006.
No. 1 Group ROC HQ, Maidstone, Kent
No 1 Group ROC HeadQuarters, a cold war bunker used by the Royal Observer Corps.
This video shows some interesting shots from inside the bunker.
Info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Observer_Corps
IKS Production 2010
Citadel Battery, Western Heights, Dover
Citadel Battery, Western Heights, Dover. These static HD shot show the remains of the former 19th Century gun battery in 2014.
A walk with the dog up to citadel battery, hard to film holding the lead.
IKS Production 2013
St. Martin's Battery, Dover
This video is a re-edit from a video i made in 2007 that i deleted be mistake, I had the original DV tape backed up in the archives so i made another one. Its very close to the original
Built in the 1870s for three 10-inch RML guns over looking the beaches of Dover.
In the second world war the battery was heavily modernised for use with bigger guns.
Also a ww2 deep shelter was dug at the back of the site where the forma 1870s magazine was housed.
Langdon Bay Cliff Fall 27/08/13
Below from: http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kentonline/news/safety-warning-after-cliff-falls-5229/
A warning's been issued after a chalk fall from Dover’s White Cliffs on Sunday and yesterday blocked the stairs to Langdon Bay.
Coastguard Paul Evans said it's unlikely they can ever be used again.
He has now issued a safety warning for people walking from St Margaret’s Bay to Langdon to make sure they check the tides, because they can no longer use the stairs.
Channel Tunnel - 1880 attempt
The first bore tunnel sunk to test the machine that would eventually go across the channel.
2014 trailer:
A first look at my new video into the 1880 channel tunnel test bore.
Sub Brit Info:
There had been numerous proposals for a tunnel under the channel throughout the 19th Century including one by Napoleon, but the first serious attempt to build a tunnel came with an Act of Parliament in 1875 authorising the Channel Tunnel Company Ltd. to start preliminary trials. This was an Anglo French project with a simultaneous Act of Parliament in France. By 1877 several shafts had been sunk to a depth of 330 feet at Sangatte in France but initial work carried out at St. Margaret's Bay, to the east of Dover had to be abandoned due to flooding. In 1880 under the direction of Sir Edward Watkin, Chairman of the South Eastern Railway, a new shaft (No. 1 shaft) was sunk at Abbot's Cliff, between Dover and Folkestone with a horizontal gallery being driven along the cliff, 10 feet above the high water mark. This seven foot diameter pilot tunnel was eventually to be enlarged to standard gauge with a connection to the South Eastern Railway.
After Welsh miners had bored 800 feet of tunnel a second shaft (No 2) was sunk at Shakespeare Cliff in February 1881. This tunnel was started under the foreshore heading towards a mid channel meeting with the French pilot tunnel.
Both tunnels were to have been bored using a compressed air boring machine invented and built by Colonel Fredrick Beaumont MP. Beaumont had been involved with the Channel Tunnel Company since 1874 and had successfully bored a number of tunnels without the use of explosives and 3 ½ times faster than manual labour. It was not however Beaumont's boring machine that was used. Captain Thomas English of Dartford, Kent patented a far superior rotary boring machine in 1880 capable of cutting nearly half a mile a month and it was this not Beaumont's machine that was used on this first attempt at tunnelling under the channel. The tunnel was credited to Beaumont in 'The Engineer' magazine and despite letters of protest from English the editor refused to correct the mistake and Beaumont did nothing to clarify the situation. Even to this day this early Channel Tunnel trial is often credited to the Beaumont machine.
The Channel Tunnel Company expected the pilot tunnel to be completed by 1886. Sir Edward Watkin applied to the government for public funds to complete the 11 mile section to meet the French mid channel. These funds were not forthcoming so Sir Edward formed a new company, The Submarine Continental Railway Company that took over the shafts and headings from the South Eastern Railway in 1882. The company prepared a new Bill to put before Parliament but by now the government were getting worried about the military implications of a link to Europe and a new military commission heard evidence from Lieutenant General Sir Garnet Wolseley that the tunnel might be "calamitous for England", he added that "No matter what fortifications and defences were built, there would always be the peril of some continental army seizing the tunnel exit by surprise." Despite assurances from Sir Edward that the defence against invasion was adequate by flooding the tunnel, cutting of the ventilation and forcing smoke into the tunnel and cutting the cables on the lifts in the shaft thereby trapping any invader at the bottom, the commission was not convinced. READ MORE AT:
http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/sites/c/channel_tunnel_1880_attempt/index.shtml
IKS Production 2008 visit:
Lydden Spout Battery, Deep Shelter, Dover
A complex of tunnels that lies abandoned near Dover, used in WW2 as accommodation for the gun crew at the battery.
IKS Production 2008
SubBrit Info:
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. Although initially little appears visible as most of the buildings have been demolished most of the underground features are still intact. The three emplacements are still extant although they have been infilled with only the concrete surrounding them visible. The three magazines serving the emplacements are still accessible with care as is the deep level shelter. The most prominent features are two single storey brick buildings beside a public footpath on the south side of the A20. The smaller of the two buildings, closer to the A20, was the Warrant Officer's and Sergeants' Mess. This is a rectangular brick building with an extension on one end with an entrance porch and a ladder up to the roof on the wall alongside. The second larger building is roughly 'T' shaped; this was the dining room and cookhouse. Both buildings have been completely stripped of all fixtures and fittings including windows and doors and are now used as cattle sheds. All other buildings on the site have been demolished although some footings are visible as are the roads. Just past the dining room on the opposite side of the camp road there is a large earth covered mound. Beneath this is the underground battery plotting room and command post. The main entrance block was demolished in the 1960's although the backfilled access shaft is still visible on top of the mound. At the southern end of the mound is the emergency escape shaft with a hinged metal hatch. This was sealed with concrete in the 1960's but was re-opened in March 2003 giving access to the well preserved plotting room below.
NEW 2014! indepth look at the tunnels with two cameras:
Lydden Spout Deep Shelter (Historic Document)
Southern Water Emergency Control Centres (Mike Wade interview)
Chatham - Southern Water Emergency Control Centre. A nuclear bunker for the people of Southern Water.
Mike Wade talks about the Southern Water Control Centres. There are two of these videos. One in Gillingham and the other is in Brede.
IKS Production 2009
This site is open some days in the year. Google brede Bunker for info on open times.
During the late 1980's Southern Water built three emergency control centres one at Brede in Sussex, one at Twyford in Hampshire.
This is one is in Brede, Sussex.
Knights Templar Church, Western Heights, Dover
The remains of a 12 century church built by the Knights Templar. The remains were found by the military engineers in the 19th century as they were fortifying the Western Heights.
Cowgate Cemetery, Dover (First Recording)
Cowgate Cemetery, one of Dover's oldest Cemeteries.
First video for the Cemetery, will be going back for more in-depth recording of grave stones and surrounding area.
Fort Drop Redoubt, Dover
A walk around the moat of the Drop Redoubt, with the GoPro HERO 2
HD Static views of the Drop Redoubt on the Western Heights, Dover
In Dec 2009 I ran up to the Drop Redoubt, it was getting dark and i wanted to capture the fort in the snow. This is what I filmed.
Dover Western Heights Fort
Massive Caves on the Western Heights
On the Western Heights in Dover are these massive caves/mines. These may have been used to supply the mortar for the building of the western Heights fortifications 1800's
part 1 of my video, we have to climb into the system with a rope, just to help us in. Inside we find so much graffiti in there from the mid 19th century
In part 2 of my video we explore two more caves/mines to record the graffiti.
Oil Mill Caves, Dover
Oil Mills, Dover (Location 1)
A look inside one of the caves along Snargate Street in Dover.
Oil Mills, Dover (Location 2)
Privately owned tunnels, trip with permission in 2010.
Oil Mills, Dover (Location 3)
IKS Production Series 1 (Playlist)
In series 1 we talk about the 2004 productions from the tunnel exploring days. the videos and sound are cut in places, this is normal.
First off we look at the Old Dover 2004 DVD, then later on in the series go into the behind the scenes, looking at the raw unedited video footage from 2004.
IKS Production Series 2
Series 2 of IKS Production, in this series we will be taking a looking into the productions from 2005 to 2006. the locations in this series are:
The Gun Emplacement, St. Margaret's Bay.
South Foreland Battery -Plotting room - deep shelter- magazine.
South Front barracks, water storage tanks.
East of Dover, DVD:
Z-Rockets Battery
South Foreland Battery
Fan Bay Battery
Underground Past, DVD:
Hougham Battery
Langdon hole Deep Shelter
Lydden Spout Battery
Ramsgate Tunnels (wind tunnel)
Road of Remembrance Bunker
Shorts Brothers Sea Plane Factory
Tunbridge Underground Battle Headquarters
And some extra rare footage from IKS Production 2005/2006
Scott's Caves, Dover
Scott's Caves, Dover
location privately owned, pre-arranged 2009 trip
A possible water pump for the Western Heights, 1860s? maybe much older!
in ww2 the tunnels was used as a air raid shelter, with the well shaft being a emergency exit, from what i seen on the web.
Frank Illingworth's Tunnel
A 2009 trip to the tunnel, very crazy tunnel very small. The smallest tunnel iv ever been in.
A 2011 revisit to the tunnel, pigeons have made it into a home.
Plymouth Underground Extension (Mount Wise)
A massive complex of tunnels from WW2 used for radio, telephone and telegraph.
more info on the subbrit website:
http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/sites/m/mount_wise/index1.html
IKS Production 2009
Knights Templar Church, Western Heights, Dover
The remains of a 12 century church built by the Knights Templar. The remains were found by the military engineers in the 19th century as they were fortifying the Western Heights.
Drop Redoubt Fort, Western Heights, Dover (Moat Walk)
A walk around the Drop Redoubt moat with my gopro hero 2 camera attached to my chest
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