Several of us took our torches and candles and set out for Dover Castle, going through Connaught Park on the way there.We crossed the road and climbed the steep bank where the concrete tank traps are.Then it was past the Redan and along the top of the embankment.The moat is on the right hand side here.I think there was then a bit of a bank to climb and we were in Horseshoe Bastion.The Bastion was covered with Sycamore saplings.I don't remember much about the earthworks around the edge of the Bastion but in a corner of the steep embankment there were rough steps cut into the earth.These gave access to the army garage and pillboxes below.The tunnel entrance was in the East Ditch embankment which rises up from the rear of Horseshoe Bastion.
With candles lit and torches switched on we entered the tunnel.This tunnel was not very long and I think it went up some steps.We then entered a large room with a fireplace.We could see in a wall the bricked up site of a drawbridge with a couple of pulley wheels still in place.Through a window here we saw that we were in the counterscarp wall of the East Ditch.Above this large room was an upper level.This was accessed by shafts.
We found the exit doorway leading to the tunnel under the East Ditch and into Dover Castle.I think that a spiral staircase led down to the tunnel.This tunnel was quite long.At the far end we went up a spiral staircase and out into daylight.The stout wooden door was wide open in those long gone days.
I had a guided tour, many years later, through a similar tunnel and around East Demi Bastion.That tour was arranged by The Friends of Dover Castle.
