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Air raid shelter, Hastings, September-October 1940

AP.

England's south-east coast did not have the Tube but - unlike London with its clay - it did have a very handy chalk geology that lent itself to quick and efficient tunneling. These Hasting residents are sheltering in chalk tunnels bored out under their town. In fact, "residents" is a term that could equally be applied to their tenure in the tunnels. Many residents moved in for the duration of the Blitz, bringing beds and other furniture with them, and cooking, eating and recreational spaces were set aside for them. These tunnels were relatively easy to conceal from the air, and were also very, very bomb-proof. In consequence, over the duration of the war, similar tunnels were used to conceal whole factories, as well as military installations. In the period between the fall of France and the end of the Blitz (and beyond), the Royal Navy, the RAF and the British intelligence services maintained headquarters units and listening stations at King Henry VIII's early modern Dover Castle - but most of the action there was actually underground in an extensive underground system of chalk tunnels. Best regards, JR.