# St Martins Battery Shelter Dover



## fluffy5518 (Oct 26, 2011)

Hi all !!
Just noticed in Colin Haggerty's report about a type 23 pillbox at St Martins battery that Outkast has enquired about the adjacent shelter being open again. So this has prompted me to post a few shots of our recent visit !!
St Martins Battery shelter was constructed in the early 40's to house the crews manning the guns incase of a heavy attack from the enemy. It is unusual in that although it is of typical construction it was built into the entrance passageway of a Napoleonic magazine.
The entrance passageway, with the stairs leading down to the shelter on the right and the entrance to the Napoleonic magazine slightly further on to the left.





Inside the old Magazine




First set of steps leading down to a landing....




...followed by the next set down into the main passageway itself.




This brings you into the main tunnel which runs parallel to a spur tunnel connected by three cross passageways !!
This is the view looking back to the stairs with a cross passageway off to the right.




The main tunnel runs on until it meets the spur tunnel which comes in at an angle (rather like a set of points on a railway) Unfortunately at the point where the two tunnels meet there has been a roof collapse which has partially blocked the secondary exit passage.
This is looking along the main tunnel to the blockage.




Over the blockage the secondary entrance/exit has been completely backfilled and this is the view looking back towards the main tunnel.




Back over the blockage once again and into the spur tunnel.This used to house the toilets and some wash facilities, unfortunately long since gone !!,however you can see where the wasstands used to be !!




A couple more of the spur tunnel with the first showing the curved approach to the wash room and the second showing the partitions for the toilets.








Cross passageways.








Another view looking towards the stairs from the main tunnel




And lastly a random object caught in the beam of Newage's new torch !!!




All in all a quite interesting little explore and another Dover shelter off the to do list. Owing to the fact that i am over 6 inches tall and have a waist size that exceeds that of a size 0 model, i never thought i'd see the inside of this shelter but sometimes patience pays off !!! Bloody vandals !!!


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## night crawler (Oct 26, 2011)

Dam fine report as ever and what looks like a lack of cave spiders I see.


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## fluffy5518 (Oct 26, 2011)

Thanx Mr C !!! You say the nicest things !! And, indeed no ! Not a single solitary spider in site !! I think they're scared of roof falls !


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## Munchh (Oct 26, 2011)

Outstanding fluff. Somebody mentions it and you bang up a report on it 

Incidentally, I was near GCHQ the other day and just wondered if it was accessible yet.................


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## godzilla73 (Oct 26, 2011)

Well, I'm glad to see your wish was fulfilled Fluffy. The photos are good too, bringing back a few hazy memories of some teenage shenanigans in this particular set of tunnels 
Godzy


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## urban phantom (Oct 27, 2011)

Nice work thanks for sharing


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## Newage (Oct 27, 2011)

Hi All

just to add a few pictures to the great post from Fluffy.






This is the roof fall where the two passage ways meet before the emergency exit.






This is the left hand passage that curves away to the roof fall area.

Cheers Newage


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## fluffy5518 (Oct 27, 2011)

Newage said:


> This is the roof fall where the two passage ways meet before the emergency exit.



Great shot mate !! This is the pic i really wanted, i'm gonna have to invest in a 10mm lens !!!
Thanx for the comments guys but Godzy i'm amazed that you can remember that far back !!!!


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## night crawler (Oct 28, 2011)

Fluffy you can borrow mine any time, I know you will look after it.


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