A narrow hatch in the middle of a field leads to one of the best-preserved secret sites from the Second World War in the United Kingdom. On 13 November 2026, the Fan Bay Plotting Room – the underground command post of an artillery battery near Dover, hidden about four metres beneath the White Cliffs – was opened to visitors.
The bunker was connected to the defence of the Strait of Dover, where British guns tracked and shelled German ships during the war. Fan Bay Battery was equipped with three 6-inch guns, while the underground room served as the centre for calculating firing solutions and directing the battery.
The artillery battery’s “brain”
The command post housed an electromechanical fire-control system – the first land-based system of its kind to use a computer to determine the necessary gun settings. Up to 10 people operated the equipment at the same time.
„It was a Tutankhamun moment for a conflict archaeologist,“ says John Stewart, the National Trust’s excavation leader, describing his first entry into the site after its rediscovery in 2017.
The system itself has not survived. In 1957, the military dismantled it before removing it, so that it would not fall into foreign hands. However, metal remains from it were found during the excavations, while traces of the equipment remain on the floor and walls.
Buried and forgotten for decades
Fan Bay was built in 1940-1941, when Dover became one of the most important points for protecting the British coast. The French coastline is only about 34 kilometres away, and the area was subjected to constant German shelling.
After the war, the facility was abandoned and secretly mothballed in 1957. The entrances were later sealed, and the military buildings were covered with earth. The site remained out of the public eye until December 2017, when archaeologists and National Trust volunteers discovered the hidden emergency hatch.
The bunker’s military significance was kept secret until 1981. Following extensive excavation and conservation work, the underground room is now accessible on guided tours. Visitors descend through the narrow entrance wearing helmets, and inside they can see original inscriptions, graffiti, old newspapers, shoes and official notices left from the battery’s time.
The conservators have not repainted the walls or restored the interior according to a modern concept. The aim is for visitors to see the room in the condition in which it was discovered – as a preserved working environment rather than a recreated museum display.
Source: theguardian.com