Ramsgate Tunnels

Useful Information

Location:	Marina Esplanade, Ramsgate CT11 8FH. (51.334472, 1.426544)
Open:	Deep Shelter Explorer Tour: NOV to MAR Mon, Tue 11, 13, Wed-Sun 11, 12, 14. APR to SEP daily 10, 12, 14, 16. OCT Mon-Fro 10, 12, 14, Sat, Sun 10. 12, 14, 16. Tunnel Town Explorer Tour: During peak times, school holidays, summer months. [2024]
Fee:	Deep Shelter Explorer Tour: Adults GBP 9, Children GBP 6, Seniors (65+) GBP 7, Family (2+2) GBP 25. Tunnel Town Explorer Tour: Adults GBP 15. [2024]
Classification:	World War II Bunker
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:	T=11 °C.
Guided tours:	Deep Shelter Explorer Tour: L=1,250 m, D=90 min. Tunnel Town Explorer Tour: L=2,400 m, D=2 h.
Photography:	allowed in the lit areas
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Ramsgate (Heritage Regeneration) Trust Limited, Ramsgate Tunnels, Marina Esplanade, Ramsgate CT11 8FH, Tel: +44-1843-588123. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

13-APR-1846	railway station Ramsgate Town opened by the South Eastern Railway.
1863	railway tunnel constructed.
05-OCT-1863	second line to Ramsgate opened by London, Chatham and Dover Railway.
02-JUL-1926	new link opened, tran stations Harbour and Town closed and tunnel abandoned and sealed.
1936	narrow gauge railway branch tunnel constructed.
31-JUL-1936	new line opened to the public by Lieutenant-Colonel Edwin Charles Cox, Traffic Manager of the Southern Railway.
01-JUN-1939	air raid shelter opened by the Duke of Kent.
24-AUG-1940	Ramsgate bombed by a squadron of German aircraft, 1,200 houses destroyed or damaged.
1945	air raid shelter sealed and abandoned.
1946	World Scenic Railway restarts operations.
1950	part of the tunnel reused by the sewer system.
1965	narrow gauge railway closed.
JUN-2014	tunnels opened to the public.

Description

photography — Ramsgate Tunnels, England, Great Britain. Public Domain.

The Ramsgate Tunnels are located on the East Cliff of Ramsgate on Marina Esplanade. From the city there is a staircase called Augusta Steps which leads down to the beach. The entrance to the tunnels is right above sea level. There is a road along the beach and a car park, so they are easy to access by car. They are signposted with brown signs reading Ramsgate Wartime Tunnels.

The South Eastern Railway extended the line from Ashford via Canterbury to Ramsgate and Margate in 1846. They were competing with the Kent Coast Railway working with the London, Chatham & Dover Railway, who extended their line from Faversham along the north Kent Coast to Margate and Ramsgate. The South Eastern Railway train station was at the back of the town. So LC&DR decided to build their station right at the harbour, adjacent to the beach, at the base of the East cliff. This site had several benefits, especially the easy access to the harbour. But there were also drawbacks, like the need for a tunnel, which had a steep gradient, and so there was the constant risk that an out-of-control train would run through the station onto the beach. This actually happened twice, on 03-AUG-1891 and 24-MAR-1915. Also, the space was limited and there was no possibility to extend or improve the train station. There was a turntable for the engines, but it was small and so the size of the engines was also limited. As a result heavier trains needed two engines to haul them up.

The train companies were merged in 1923, and so the newly formed Southern Railway decided to address the duplication of lines and stations at Ramsgate and Margate. The lines were linked and formed a loop now, the work was completed in 1925. The terminus stations Ramsgate Town and Ramsgate Harbour were both closed and replaced by two new stations called Dumpton Park and Ramsgate. Subsequently, the tunnel was sealed and abandoned, and the station was sold to Thanet Amusements, who built a miniature zoo and funfair called Merrie England on the site. This was actually a big drawback for the town, the new stations were too far from the seafront attractions, and day-trippers were increasingly attracted to Margate. That's why the now very popular amusement park Merrie England, now owned by Ramsgate Olympia, asked the Southern Railway to reopen the line through the tunnel. The idea was to create easy access from the station to the harbour. But the railroad company refused, they considered it too costly and impractical, but then they designed a new route with a narrow gauge railway. It was not a train connection, it was actually more like a subway, the new tunnel was thus much smaller than the old railway tunnel. The trail was electric, the electricity was supplied by an electrical substation built by English Electric inside the tunnel. A really strange detail were the illuminated displays showing scenes from around the world in the wider, original tunnel. As a result the railroad became known as the "World Scenic Railway", and it was quite popular. In the first year, there were 20,000 passengers on the Bank Holiday weekend. The trains were operated only during summer tourist season as a tourist train, and they operated on demand.

The plan to build an air raid shelter is quite old, it started in 1936, as an idea of Ramsgate's Borough Engineer R.D. Brimmell. It's obvious, that this part of the island was actually closest to the continent and prone to air raids. The main problem was that the existing shelters were too far away, and the population would be exposed to danger as they crossed the town to reach them. So the proposal included entrances in public places all over town. The Deep Shelter Tunnel System was deferred in June 1938, as there was no imminent danger of war. This changed with Germany's occupation of Austria in the same year, and this time the Council agreed, but it was rejected by the Home Office. Another year later it was finally realized and opened three months before the war started. The result was a 5.2 km long semicircular network of tunnels. The shelter was big enough for 60,000 people, although the population of Ramsgate at the time was only 33,000. The worst air raid on Ramsgate happened only a year later, on 24-AUG-1940. There was massive destruction, but only 29 civilians and 2 soldiers were killed, countless lives were saved by the deep shelter. The mayor of Ramsgate, A. B. C. Kempe had been a big supporter of the shelter, and was called mad mayor by his critics for spending so much money. After the air raid, his critics apologized and conceded that he had saved hundreds of lives.

Britain's largest purpose built Second World War Deep Tunnel Shelter during World War II had strange names, including Air Raid Precaution Tunnel. More than 1,000 permanent residents lived underground in the shelter for years. BUt with the end of the war it was immediately abandoned In 1950 the tunnel section from Ellington Road to the Harbour was converted into a sewer, the Newington Trunk Sewer. A pipe was built into the tunnel which blocks most of the Ellington Road section until today.

Ramsgate's Borough Engineer R. D. Brimmell once again produced a plan to re-open and reinforce the existing A.R.P. tunnel system in January 1951. It was the time of the Cold War, all over Britain Secret Bunkers were planned and constructed. The plan extended the main tunnel, built an alternative for the tunnel blocked by the sewer, and included access points from new parts of the growing system. However, this time the plans were not realized. But they stayed top secret until they were finally published in 2008 by the National Archives.

The narrow gauge tourist train lost passengers in the 1960s, and was not profitable any more. After an accident with several injured it was finally closed in 1965. Not the tunnels were completely closed. In 1988 a study was carried out, the plan was to create a tourist attraction named the Ramsgate Blitz Experience in the tunnels. It was never realized. The next attempt to open a section to the public in 1996 was also never realized. It was the third attempt in 2011, which was finally realized due to funding by the Big Lottery Fund. David Green, the Mayor of Ramsgate, founded the Ramsgate Tunnels Heritage Group for this purpose. The tunnels are operated until today by this non-profit association.

There are two types of tours, the Deep Shelter Explorer Tour and the Tunnel Town Explorer Tour. The Deep Shelter Explorer Tour, also Deep Tunnel Shelter Explorer Tour shows the air raid shelter. This is the standard tour which is offered all year. The Tunnel Town Explorer Tour takes place within the 150-year-old main Victorian Railway Tunnel. The railway shaped the history of the town, and transformed a fishing community into a thriving coastal resort. The tour follows the tunnel to the other end, so this is actually a one-way tour. The tours are only partly lit, visitors are equipped with helmet and lamp. Good walking shoes are strongly recommended.