Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

The Dumpy level wartime tunnels at Dover Castle, which are located at the far southern end of the castle complex and are beneath the earlier Casemate and contemporary Annexe level tunnels, were constructed during the Second World War (1942-1943) to house the Dover Combined Headquarters. In the early 1960’s the complex was converted to be used ads a Regional Seat of Government and the tunnels continued to be maintained, with intermittent phases of upgrading until the 1980’s. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)

Monument Types

• TUNNEL (Modern - 1942 AD to 2050 AD)
• ARMY OFFICE (Disused, Modern - 1943 AD to 1980 AD)
• COMMUNICATIONS BUILDING (Disused, Modern - 1943 AD to 1980 AD)
• OPERATIONS ROOM (Disused, Modern - 1943 AD to 1980 AD)

Full description

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The Dumpy level wartime tunnels at Dover Castle, which are located at the far southern end of the castle complex and are beneath the earlier Casemate and contemporary Annexe level tunnels, were constructed during the Second World War (1942-1943) to house the Dover Combined Headquarters. In the early 1960’s the complex was converted to be used ads a Regional Seat of Government and the tunnels continued to be maintained, with intermittent phases of upgrading until the 1980’s.

The overall layout of Dumpy Level is broadly rectangular in plan with a network of vaulted rooms cut into the chalk, supported by arched steel braces, bolted at the top of the arch, and lined with corrugated arcuate sheeting. The rooms are each connected by narrower corridors and they divide into a number of distinct areas. The northern half of the complex is largely formed by a long east to west corridor (Corridor B) with rooms to either side which are very similar to each other and which largely formed offices in both the CHQ and the later Cold War complex. To the south of this block is a series of larger rooms along the east to west spine of Dumpy which formed most of the key areas in both the CHQ and the Cold War facilities. These included the Second World War Operations Rooms for the Army, Navy and RAF as well as the main communications centre in each of the facilities from the CHQ through to the closure of the SRHQ in the early 1980s. The main access to Dumpy Level is now via a lift which was inserted in c.1965-1967 but there are also three staircases to Casemate Level. Summarised from sources (1-2)

<1> English Heritage, 2014, Dover Castle Conservation Management Plan Volume 2 Gazetteer (Unpublished document). SKE52105.

<2> Johnathan Coad, 1995, English Heritage Book of Dover Castle and the Defences of Dover (Monograph). SKE52106.

Sources and further reading

Related records