Extensive Second World War underground tunnel air raid shelter complex cut into the chalk cliffs 70m south of Crete Hall Road, Northfleet 1939/40 to provide protection for workers at the adjacent Henley Telegraph Works. This factory was engaged in important war manufacture of electrical and rubber products. It also manufactured the Pipeline Under the Ocean (PLUTO) for providing the allied armies with petrol supplied from Britain across the English Channel after the D-Day landings in France of June, 1944. The shelter provided space for c. 2500 workers. It is on a grid pattern plan, under 15 metres of chalk, with 2 and 3-metre wide concrete-lined arched passages crossing each other at right angles. Their walls bear orginal painted signs designating the various sections of seating. Collectively, there are over 600 metres of shelter passages. The shelters are entered from the factory site by 7 entrances in the cliff face, one of which at the western extremity of the complex gives access through an anti-gas warfare decontamination centre. Each of the shelter entrances was provided with an anti-gas airlock, of which the inner element has vanished, although some external steel doors remain. Within the complex is a large two-storey power and filtration plant room, extensive areas for latrines, a shelter control room, squad room and male and female first aid rooms. The shelter was decommissioned at the end of the Second World War in Europe in 1945. Subsequently, the tunnels became used as industrial stores, one section being made separate by the insertion of blockings in certain of the tunnels. Part of the external element of the entrance containing the decontamination centre was demolished at an unknown post-war date. The complex is now empty and survives in good condition. The shelter tunnels are owned by Gravesham Borough Council and the Henley factory site which is the only means of access, by SEEDA.
Owner : Public
Publicly accessible : No
How accessed for survey : There is no current public access. The shelters are owned and secured by Gravesham Borough Council but the approach is managed by TTG Properties Ltd for SEEDA..
Tourism Potential : High potential value for tourism as a stimulating direct access monument with considerable possibilities for interpretation.
Condition : very good
Date of visit : 01/02/06

Frank R. Turner, 01/01/01, The WT Henley Telegraph Works (Gravesend at War Series No. 8), 2001 (Bibliographic reference). SKE13960.

Frank R. Turner, 01/01/01, The WT Henley Telegraph Works (Gravesend at War Series No. 8), 2001 (Bibliographic reference). Ske13960.

Wt Henley, 19/04/40, Air Raid Shelter - WT Henley's Telegraph Works (Map). SKE13961.

Wt Henley, 19/04/40, Air Raid Shelter - WT Henley's Telegraph Works (Map). Ske13961.