# Hexton Tunnel Deep Air Raid Shelter, Plymouth - May '09



## Badoosh (May 13, 2009)

The history on this place is a little light to say the least. Needless to say it was also extremely difficult to find, yet alone document it. Perseverance & determination finally paid off though & after weeks of research, chatting to a couple of elder locals & a little bit of luck, the tunnel was finally located. 

The little history we've managed to gather is that the tunnel itself dates back around 300 years, & was once connected to a quarry, now long gone. The tunnels was put to good use in early 1941 as an air raid shelter for around 600 to 800 people, equipped only with hurricane lamps for lighting. Later in the same year it was noted that up to 1,000 people took shelter during one raid but there was no sanitary or seating available & it wasn't until autumn 1941 that improvements were made after several complaints & the fact that women & children slept there on a nightly basis.

Looking at the tunnel shelter today, there is little evidence of it's protective role during WW2, other than electric cables, & signs of blast walls near the entrance. Since the war, there has been a collapse at the end but even with that, we found it hard to imagine how so many people could have fitted in the shelter back then, let alone spend the night in it. Walking the length we had to stoop the full way, & we also realised there was no escape hatches, one way in - one way out, maybe the collapsed end had an answer but we will probably never know, although it most certainly offered better protection than many other shelters with a depth of between 40' & 60' below the surface. 

On with the pics...

The entrance










Old farm/garden machinery lying within a few feet of the entrance









Evidence of a blast or baffle wall, about 15-20 feet inside the entrance





The small & only section of roof lining, with electricity cable running down the tunnel





Looking down the tunnel





More shots of the cable & conduit, with a fusebox about three quarters of the way in













NAAFI jug





At the end of the tunnel looking back









Large voids in the roof space near the blocked end





theterrorwheel lines up his shot of a fresh water spring well...





...& another shot of him taking a closer look at the collapse






Should we be able to find out more history on this tunnel/shelter, then we will keep you posted with an update, but until then, hope you enjoy the photos. Badoosh & theterrorwheel. Thanks to G for the original lead .


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## plazzyman (May 13, 2009)

*last photo*

who has the fat arse in the last photo is that terrorwheel ?  lol nice little find though pity there isn't more remaining inside


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## theterrorwheel (May 13, 2009)

great report badoosh, here is some of the pics i got


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## Foxylady (May 13, 2009)

Ah, this is the one you were telling me about! 
Excellent work, guys...fab pics and history.


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## james.s (May 13, 2009)

Yes, I agree with foxy, great work. I love the light painting and the milk bottle shot


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## Urban Mole (May 13, 2009)

Nice report matey, looks like a good find.
Just out of curiosity, is there anything on this site thats relevant to this shelter;
http://www.cyber-heritage.co.uk/

Seems pretty interesting...


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## Engineer (May 14, 2009)

*Hexton Shelter.*

That's a very interesting place, super pics. Whilst rooting around on GooglelEarth I notice that the quarries in the area are whiteish rock, (limestone/chalk?) but the roof fall material matches the red topsoil.
The spring seems to be part of a small cave system which would fit in with limestone.

Do you know where the roof fall would be on the surface?

Edit: just struck me that the "fall" is possibly the filled in quarry?


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## exal66 (May 14, 2009)

any chance you could PM the details of that one, i've been trying locate it for ages


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## Evilgenius (May 14, 2009)

Nice work, good find! How far does the tunnel go, looks a fair way?!?


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## night crawler (May 14, 2009)

Good stuff that great find, well done.


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## Badoosh (May 14, 2009)

Urban Mole said:


> Nice report matey, looks like a good find.
> Just out of curiosity, is there anything on this site thats relevant to this shelter;
> http://www.cyber-heritage.co.uk/
> 
> Seems pretty interesting...




No, there's nothing on Cyber's site about this one in particular. There's plenty more shelters documented on his site although the majority have been demoilshed. 





Engineer said:


> That's a very interesting place, super pics. Whilst rooting around on GooglelEarth I notice that the quarries in the area are whiteish rock, (limestone/chalk?) but the roof fall material matches the red topsoil.
> The spring seems to be part of a small cave system which would fit in with limestone.
> 
> Do you know where the roof fall would be on the surface?
> ...




Well spotted Engineer! The spring was 'created' in recent years. We don't know the exact spot of the roof fall but have a rough idea.




Dazaf said:


> Nice work, good find! How far does the tunnel go, looks a fair way?!?




At a guess, i'd say 2-250 yards, it would be interesting to find out what the full length would have been before the collapse.

Thanks for all the comments . Oh & nice pics ttw, thanks for the scenic drive to the site


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## Engineer (May 14, 2009)

*Hexton Shelter.*

If I have the right place it looks like there are 4 quarries.





If you can get a compass bearing and length you could plot the falls surface position, it's about 600 metres from the blue grid line to the " L" in NTL for map scale.


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## theterrorwheel (May 15, 2009)

plazzyman said:


> who has the fat arse in the last photo is that terrorwheel ?  lol



i think you will find thats curvy, more importantly i dont know how i dont injure myself more hopping around sites! being one legged and all that. Hahahaha


Badoosh as for the scenicness i think you will find that was the most direct route


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## Badoosh (May 15, 2009)

Engineer said:


> If I have the right place it looks like there are 4 quarries.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Looked into this last night & the collapse is at the bottom of someone's garden. Must have been a shock when the owner came out to see their newly planted flower bed had disappeared.


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## Black Shuck (May 15, 2009)

Nice one Badoosh you have got some epic shots there mate! I really like the shot with the lit up Milk bottles mate. That light up the sky flash of yours is the bizz mate!


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## Badoosh (May 15, 2009)

Black Shuck said:


> Nice one Badoosh you have got some epic shots there mate! I really like the shot with the lit up Milk bottles mate. That light up the sky flash of yours is the bizz mate!



Cheers BS. The light i'm using is a different one, which died in the tunnel so we had to make do with TTW's awesome torch. My skylighter broke a couple of weeks back & it's gonna set me back over a ton to to fix it, gutted.


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## Black Shuck (May 15, 2009)

Badoosh said:


> Cheers BS. The light i'm using is a different one, which died in the tunnel so we had to make do with TTW's awesome torch. My skylighter broke a couple of weeks back & it's gonna set me back over a ton to to fix it, gutted.



Jesus mate what a pisser! that really was an awesome piece of kit you had up at Stenigot. I picked up a new piece of kit the other day, one of those fake Mag torches the 4 D type from Tescos which was reduced to just over 13 quid as opposed to near enough 20. I never ealised how sodding bright they were until I accidently shone it at a Mirror in the Dark! Could not see for about 10 mins!


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## Badoosh (May 15, 2009)

Black Shuck said:


> Jesus mate what a pisser! that really was an awesome piece of kit you had up at Stenigot. I picked up a new piece of kit the other day, one of those fake Mag torches the 4 D type from Tescos which was reduced to just over 13 quid as opposed to near enough 20. I never ealised how sodding bright they were until I accidently shone it at a Mirror in the Dark! Could not see for about 10 mins!



I shall have to check them out. The one i bought was a 3.5 mil cp jobby from B & Q, spur of the moment thing. It's good, but the batts die within 45 mins so until i can afford to get my other fixed, i'm still in need of another. I'll check Tescos later, cheers BS.


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## Black Shuck (May 15, 2009)

Yeah its 4d the 4d L.E.D one mate and to be honest it is an absolute cracker.


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## theterrorwheel (May 15, 2009)

yeah i think everyone that sees those tesco led torches are impressed, i had 2 but they were pinched by family members within a few hours as they were so impressed, infact i wander if i should chance getting another as a spare, cant never have to many torches!


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## Engineer (May 16, 2009)

*Hexton.*



Badoosh said:


> Looked into this last night & the collapse is at the bottom of someone's garden. Must have been a shock when the owner came out to see their newly planted flower bed had disappeared.



Thanks for the info. If I lived at the house I think I'd block the present entrance and have my own personal tunnel!


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## GeorgieKirrin (Jun 17, 2009)

Nice find guys - a good bit of history too. Can you PM me a bit more info on the location? I have an idea where it might be but not sure!


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