# Deepdene WW2 Underground Railway Control Bunker - Jan 2015



## RazzyRae (Jan 5, 2015)

Hi all, this is my first post 

All pics taken on my mobile by torchlight, so please excuse that they're not the best quality.
Was a relaxing mid-morning visit with 2 non-member buddies, access was a walk in the park and we remained undisturbed the whole time. 

It was quite an interesting trip, worth a drop in if you're in the area 

History stolen from Subbrit:

"When the Southern Railway took over Deepdene House (also known as the Deepdene Hotel) for its wartime Headquarters it discovered that there were natural caves in the grounds. These caves had been acknowledged 300 years before in the diaries of John Evelyn. Because of the natural protection afforded by the location of the caves they were eminently suitable for the development of a bunker to house both the sites switchboard and the Traffic Control. The lawn between the caves and the house was used as a site for the 99foot mast supporting aerials of the emergency radio. The bunker was constructed within the caves which were enlarged to house the 30 staff and once complete their emergency headquarters with office staff was moved there from Waterloo. 

The network of tunnels included a Control Room, meeting room, 3-position switchboard, battery room, main distribution frame (MDF)/maintainers room, a bedroom for the night officer and an air plant and toilet facilities. A 60-foot vertical shaft at the rear of the complex provided an air inlet and emergency exit. A 4 foot thick concrete slab covered the complex but no protection was provided against a ‘near miss’ 

The Southern Railway General Manager Eustace Missenden lived nearby and had a switchboard extension in his house. During the air raids he spent many nights there with his wife and it is reputed that the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill was a visitor. 

The bunker consisted of a series of tunnels partly natural driven into the steep hillside to the rear of the former hotel. There were three entrances plus a fourth emergency exit accessed from the hillside 50 feet above via a spiral staircase. 

Even after the war the exchange remained in use and one visitor in the 1960's remembers three operators and he noticed one of the side tunnels still contained bunk beds. 

British Railways left Deepdene in the mid 1960's and the house was demolished in 1969 with a modern office block being built on the site; this is now the Headquarters of Kuoni Travel. For many years the tunnels lay forgotten in the bushes to the rear of the office block but in 1997 local children started a small fire just inside one of the entrance tunnels and when the fire brigade came to extinguish the it they found the whole network was heavily contaminated with asbestos, so much so that they had to dispose of all their clothes after the incident. 

As a result of this information, Kuoni commissioned a survey of the tunnels by Redhill Analysts who confirmed that most of the complex and two of the small surface buildings were heavily contaminated with both white asbestos (Chrysotile) and blue asbestos (Crocidolite). Shortly afterwards all four entrances, and the contaminated surface buildings were sealed. 

In June 1999 Subterranea Britannica approached Kuoni for permission to break into the tunnels to carry out a photographic survey and although English Heritage had previously been turned down permission was granted on the understanding that the entrance was repaired the same day and those people entering the tunnels signed a relevant disclaimer."


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## krela (Jan 5, 2015)

Welcome to the forum, an excellent way to introduce yourself, thanks!


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## RazzyRae (Jan 5, 2015)

Thank you for the welcome


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## stu8fish (Jan 5, 2015)

Nice, are those stairs really a rusty as they look?


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## fluffy5518 (Jan 5, 2015)

Hey !! You cant beat introducing yerself with an underground report !! We dont get nearly enough nowadays - so big respect for that. We ventured here a few years back and were so scared witless by the stories of airborne asbestos that we wore disposable suits and gloves, hard hats and dust masks !! We must have looked like extras from an early star trek episode !! Well done, but where next ?


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## flyboys90 (Jan 5, 2015)

Nice one! Good luck with your future trips and take care, thanks for sharing.


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## RazzyRae (Jan 6, 2015)

stu8fish said:


> Nice, are those stairs really a rusty as they look?



Oh hell yes! To tell the truth we only ventured about half way up before thinking better of it. They were covered in rubble, crumbly and spider-ridden. The exit at the top is blocked up so it's not worth risking an ankle!


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## RazzyRae (Jan 6, 2015)

fluffy5518 said:


> Hey !! You cant beat introducing yerself with an underground report !! We dont get nearly enough nowadays - so big respect for that. We ventured here a few years back and were so scared witless by the stories of airborne asbestos that we wore disposable suits and gloves, hard hats and dust masks !! We must have looked like extras from an early star trek episode !! Well done, but where next ?



Hahaha I think I would have freaked out if I'd bumped into people dressed like that down there! We wrapped our heads in scarfs...in hindsight dust masks would have been a good idea!

As for where I'll be headed next.... I don't know, there's too many to play in! I've quite recently moved to where I live now so I'm hoping to find something fresh as I get to know my local area.... Watch this space


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## UrbanX (Jan 6, 2015)

Welcome to the forum! Ace first report!


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