Revealed, Winston Churchill's top secret stronghold under the White Cliffs of Dover

Résumé détaillé

With enemy forces occupying France just 21 miles away, the town of Dover endured sustained shelling and aerial attacks – earning the nickname “Hellfire Corner”. Strengthening…

Buried deep within the chalk cliffs of Dover for nearly half a century, a remarkable Second World War plotting room rediscovered by the National Trust is opening its bomb-proof doors to visitors for the first time. The Fan Bay Plotting Room – which once housed pioneering military technology – helped direct the guns defending the Strait of Dover when England’s southeast coast became Britain's frontline following the fall of France in 1940.

With enemy forces occupying France just 21 miles away, the town of Dover endured sustained shelling and aerial attacks – earning the nickname “Hellfire Corner”. Strengthening Britain's coastal defences became a national priority, championed by Winston Churchill, and Fan Bay Battery formed a key part of this defensive network.

Hidden beneath its surface guns, deep within the chalk cliffs, the plotting room was the first of its type ever constructed. It housed gadgets used to calculate firing data and coordinate artillery operations. At its heart was the Fire Direction Table, an electro-mechanical computer representing some of the most advanced military technology of its time.

Abandoned after the war, the plotting room was buried during the 1970s. Rediscovered in 2017, it has since been the focus of years of archaeological investigation, research and conservation by National Trust staff, volunteers and partners. Alongside the physical work, volunteers have researched the lives of those who served at Fan Bay, uncovering personal stories that shed new light on its wartime history.

Gordon Wise, National Trust volunteer at the White Cliffs of Dover, said: "Researching the people who worked here has changed how I see the room. A name in a service record, or a detail in a photograph, helps connect the surviving marks on the walls with someone's working day. There are still questions to answer, but each discovery helps us build a clearer picture of the people behind the machinery."

Carefully conserved in its 'as found' state, the plotting room…

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