LAST CHANCE TO SEE Cliff Edge Bunker on Beachy Head

They have sealed this bunker, so we cant recommend you go down.

Beachy Head, the most southerly point on the chalk cliffs to the west of the town of Eastbourne, East Sussex, has a long history as a location for observation and warning.

In 1826 a local vicar by the name of Rev. Jonathan Darby erected a light in a cave to the west of Beachy Head above the high water mark, at the foot of the cliffs. The cave below was accessed by the Reverend through a shaft to the bottom, down which he was lowered by some of his parishioners. This light provided warning to ships blown towards the rocks below by the relentless South Westerly gales. It undoubtedly saved many lives. A improvised light tower was built on top of the cliff in 1828 adding more range to the light. This structure gave way to the Belle Tout Lighthouse made famous by the Media due to its moving on rails away from the eroding cliff edge and repositioning. Belle Tout was abandoned in the early 1900’s to be replaced by a new Lighthouse built on the rocks below the Head to the East, due to the location high on the cliff often being obscured by fog. The Lloyds Corporation established a watch station on the Head in 1877, to monitor the movement of passing vessels, using an arrangement of coloured flags for communication. It remained in use until the outbreak of the Second World War when it was requisitioned for use by the R.A.F. who installed a Radar Station on the surrounding land, which was part of the network of Chain Home (CH) stations around the country.

After the Second World War activity slowed upon the Head and almost returned to normal with tourists returning to the area after 6 years of closure, to enjoy the popular hospitality of the Beachy Head Hotel. Aerial photographs of the surrounding area taken in 1949 still show craters from bomb damage close to the area of the Signalman’s Cottages and Hotel. Further West tank tracks and shell holes mark the landscape defining the area below Belle Tout that was used as a firing range. This took its toll on the old Lighthouse, which was a ruin after the war.

The start of the cold war reintroduced Beachy Head’s importance as a strategic lookout. In 1950 under the Air Ministry’s top secret plan designated ROTOR that provided radar cover for the United Kingdom in the event of an attack from the air, negotiations started between the Air Ministry and the Ministry of Town and County Planning, to build a " control and reporting station" on the cliffs. The M.T.C.P was having none of it to start with, who seemed to put objections to the Air Ministry at every turn.

This infuriated the Air Commodore in charge of the program who wrote in reference to the Planning authority “If the principle to be applied is that our defences are to take second place to public amenities, then the public should, I suggest, be reminded that instead of rambling over the Sussex Downs, they may be rambling over the Russian Plains with the cheerful prospect of digging salt when their hike is over.”

Negotiations continued until a compromise was reached. The local planning authority sat in a closed session on the 21st of September 1950 and approved the construction of a “Air Ministry Radio Station”. This led to the leasing of 4 acres of land on the cliff top directly opposite the Beachy Head Hotel to the Air Ministry. The proposed station was given a code of " Site No. 3" (later coded ‘HEB’) to designate itself within Rotorplan. It was to be of an R1 type underground construction providing Centrimetric Early Warning (CEW) capabilities.

More text can be found at: https://www.subbrit.org.uk/sites/beachy-head-rotor-radar-station/


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Also present on this explore were
Exploring Within - https://www.youtube.com/user/richtea8
Hidden History with Ray - https://www.youtube.com/user/beale7125

Equipment used:
DJI Mavic Zoom DRONE
Sony A7s ii with Samyang 14mm full frame lens
Dji Pocket 2 camera
Insta 360x R
BOBLOV 32GB Ambarella A7L50 Bodyworn Infra Red Camera
Adobe Premiere Pro 2020
Ryzen 5950X
65GB Ram
Windows 10 (No Apple shiz here)
Nvidia RTX 3950 GFX

#Abandonedplaces #Abandonedplacesuk #urbexuk #undergroundbunker #urbexexploration #urbex_europe_ #urbextreme #urbexphotography #DerelictBuildings #frozenintime #timecapsule
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