Lydden Spout Magazine No. 1 (Historic Document)

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.

Lydden Spout Plotting Room (Historic Document)

My new document into the plotting room at Lydden Spout Battery.



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.

1880 Channel Tunnel Test Bore (Historic Document) Trailer 1

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

Grain Tower Battery 1855, Grain Fort

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Grain Fort was built in the 1860s on the Isle of Grain (not a true island) at the eastern tip of the Hoo peninsula to control the entrance to the Medway, Kent, England. All surface structures were demolished in the 1960s, leaving only underground passages. Nearby, about half a mile offshore at 51°27′06″N 0°43′53″E and accessible on foot at low tide, is the 1855 Grain Tower Battery, an extensively remodelled East Coast-type Martello Tower.[1] During the Second World War it was manned and had three guns on the roof.[2] The building, with address Number 1, The Thames, Sheerness ME3, was bought from the Crown Estate in approximately 2005 by a private owner, and offered for sale again from 2010.[3] It was still available as of 2014, with a guide price of £500,000.[4] Grain Tower Battery. Garrison Point Fort lies the other side of the Medway.

The Belle Vue Tavern Caves, Pegwell Bay, Ramsgate

My most recent visit (2014) im using GoPro 3+ and hero 2 & sony handycam. These caves are located in Pegwell Bay in Thanet, Kent. These are located underneath The Belle Vue Tavern.

Sound Mirrors Denge, Dungeness, Kent

A new document into the sound mirrors in Dungeness, Kent.

Canterbury Cave (Historic Document)

The Canterbury Cave, My greatest challenge yet! A crazy system of natural tunnels inside the cliffs at St. Margaret's Bay, Dover. This link will give more info into the caves: http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dave/personal/cave/canterbury.htm