DUMPY, Dover Castle
Dover Castle played a crucial role in the Second World War; from the Napoleonic tunnels beneath the castle, known as Casemate level, Operation Dynamo had been planned and Churchill himself often visited the tunnels. During the war many more tunnels were dug out of the chalk beneath the castle; an underground hospital was built (known as Annexe level) to provide immediate medical care to wounded soldiers and pilots.
In 1941 construction work began on a complex of tunnels beneath Annexe and Casemate levels to provide an operational centre for all three armed forces. These tunnels became known as Dumpy (Deep Underground Military Position Yellow) and remained in use well into the Cold War. There were many problems during the construction of Dumpy and some of the excavated tunnels collapsed. In 1943 further construction was stopped due to these continuing collapses.
Although Dumpy was empty between the mid-fifties and the early 1960s, it was taken over by the Home Office in 1962 and was brought into service as a Regional Seat of Government (RSG). An RSG would have been the place from which local administration would have been conducted in the event of a nuclear attack. However, it soon became clear that these chalk tunnels would not give effective protection from fallout, and it was extremely likely that Dover itself would have been attacked with a nuclear ICBM, rendering any kind of protection futile. Dumpy did see sporadic use into the 1980’s, when it was finally closed and abandoned as an RSG.
Today Dumpy is closed to the public and access is not possible. There are currently no plans by English Heritage to open this level to the public due to various safety issues.
Downloads
