These tunnels took me back to when I was a coal miner in the 1980's.We used the exact same roof supports made from RSJ girders called "Rings" and corrugated iron "sheets" between. The pit I worked down was one of, if not the deepest in Europe at 2,500 feet to the pit bottom. When I was a miner I sometimes got chance to explore the old workings and was fascinated when walking along old road ways "Gates" as it sometimes felt like time travel, some of your videos give me the same feeling, thank you!!
Thank you for posting this, I was born in Chatham (1972) and bred moved away now but do miss the place as had lovely memories, and it was lovely seeing the sky shots in video one, and i never knew we walked upon all this !! I know much of our military history, the barracks and our naval history through the docks. The Napoleonic forts were always fun as kids but never knew of this. Thank you again for posting.
Cheers for for the great work guys. I love these old war bunkers tours. It always make me think about the today's currently active bunkers the Ministry of Defence has. Keep up the great work.
Two of the most interesting vids yet, and you've done a few. The fan room has 2 doors so you can get access to the machinery: if there was only one door, you would not be able to open it due to the suction from the air being drawn down from the surface. The air circulation relies on the in take and out flow being isolated from each other. The insulation on the door is probably soundproofing, and it was the motor, not a generator in pieces on the floor. Thanks for taking us along, I enjoyed it.
For future reference, and please, relay that to him, never, ever, climb with your legs split like that. Try to keep your body as narrow as possible. If you fall, the chances of getting a cracked bone in places you don't want, ever, to get damage like that are greater. When i was in hospital, across from me was a guy's pelvis was cracked, he never stopped moaning and begging for medication even tho he was given the maximum dose, fell asleep quite a few times etc. It's not something you want. Keep your limbs packed, you're better off breaking a femur than the key components.
That's a complete generator. Was there any soot in the room? Thieves might've gotten in after the copper in the armature, all i see is the steel element of it. That's vandalism you see there.
In the fan room, they were remains of an electric motor, the rack looks like it might have been a battery bank with the batteries missing. It was possibly a backup to keep the ventilation going in case of a power failure. Also in the corridors, on the roof beside the original electrical conduit, there is more modern cable tray. I'm not sure when tray was invented but I think it was in the 70s or 80s.
aserta -----Hay man I agree with you when they were coming down the stairs never ever spread your legs and arms out like that, hold on the same railing with both hands and keep both feet on same side also. Just saying dude" because if one foot slips off the way you're doing it with your legs spread out you are most likely going down you won't be able to hold your weight .
Super part two, I'm glad you did the steps as I would have not, I would have stayed at the bottom with a cup of tea and a bite to eat, thanks for your hard work and not sure how you can top this two part video..... Great to see how much of this Bunker is still left and still hanging on....
well what a fantastic part to the video very inspiring you chaps are I'm going to go out in Explorer some locations in this county of Cornwall which I dare say you are well aware of to keep up the good work chaps looking forward to Tuesday now for the blog and of course next Friday's explore Mark in Cornwall cheers for now
Excellent video guys! Super sketchy stairs though. Good thing the steel framework was still intact. Looked cold, damp, and dusty down there. Thanks for risking your necks to document this special place!
Great video..and a great explore, nice to see so many bits down there, the stairs look fun too! Hope to bump into you guys again sometime on a 'splore !
best one ever! I await your videos every Friday, thank you so much and the gang, brilliant work, cannot thank you enough from one who used to be an explorer.
lol those moves over the gaps it makde you & your mates at the location in the video look like crazy dudes lol & i subscribed as well 15:47 lol that sound Criss made made me laugh as it sounded random
Love your videos, I've watched most every one. I never commented before, but I have to say....the stairs, OMG! I was on the edge of my seat! Scared me to death, it gave me a bit of vertigo, felt like I could fall at any minute. Glad you all made it safe n sound!
Crisp packets from the 70s 😂 I love seeing the litter laying about, like a look at how long something has been there but not a fixture of the place, like some of the graffiti with dates on etc. Good place to investigate and good vid 😉
Wow that place seems like it goes on forever and ever. On the stairs .I would of slid down on the other rail banister . But that's just me. Very cool filming guys thanks for sharing.
fantastic video as usual. However the plant/fan room the piece of the "generator" you where looking at is actually an electric motor, broken apart for the copper armature .
brilliant explore, in the fan room that's not a generator but an electric motor. I do think you need be wary of mold spores, stay safe and keep on with the videos, looking forward to more of your output.
The fan motor is a 415 volt 3-phase wound-rotor motor, the front of the starter (step-start) was just outside the plant room and that used to be on the front of the steel frame to the left of the fan, the frame contained the starting resistances, Nice. J.
Lads that was crazy good once again little brown onions poped out again what an amazing place would love to give up work and do this instead great and brave work 👍
The reason why one door had to be closed before the other was opened is most likely because the room was a plenum chamber, so there was an air pressure differential (as you correctly observed it's an old AHU room). Also, the door backing at 15.06 is quite likely asbestos, and also likely to be friable insulation so you need to be aware of stuff like that, because there is no safe exposure level for asbestos and that is the worst kind! There are also rope flash guards in fuse boxes often which are pure asbestos. So be careful, fellas! :o)
that was amazing, I really don't think I could have tackled those steps in that condition. on the whole though the condition of the place was fantastic and like a time capsule.
Really awesome video, as usual! Just one minor point to you fine chaps.. What you are referring to as generators are motors. Basically the exact opposit of a generator. Very cool to see all this! Thanks so much for sharing these amazing places.
Hi Iks, the video kept stopping in various places ( could be my phone) other wise the video must be one of your longest yet.It was excellent and very dangerous, especially on those stairs, you are very brave for doing this one.Keep up all your hard work and effort.
"Very brave of you chaps to ascend so many flights of clapped out stairs.. One wrong move old boy, and any one of you could have been heading for the Chop Squadron.. That said; glad you all made it out in one piece. All the best.." :)
The rubble filled stair... I feel like you guys were on the correct side. The rubble most likely fills in a starting point, possibly an entrance. You guys seemed to be on the side that the council are trying prevent people from getting in to. Kudos! ;^)
The tunnel in the plant room roof must be an air intake from the surface, as the plant room had two doors to act as an airlock to seal that level off and stop the fan drawing in air from that level and dispersing stale air to the others. It says on the outer remaining door that only one should be opened at a time to stop this.
It's rather strange that the shallower tunnels have suffered more from damp than the deeper ones - there's more rust visible here. Another quality video. Another one that made me think of the old movie 'The Poseidon Adventure', too - those utterly bastard stairs. Is that rot, or were they deliberately smashed to prevent ingress? Either way, they are properly lethal.
I would have thought the 2 doors in the fan room would have been due to air pressure, if there wasn't 2 doors they wouldn't have been able to open the door due to the higher pressure in that room
I remember a dim tale from my uncle Nick who was on a detail down there prob in the sixties as he was based at the base and when his sub was in dock would be put to base duties, I imagine it would have been a lot cleaner and parts still operating at that point.
That's a good old way down if you fell, how deep do you think the tunnel's are under ground guy's,also how dry it is i was born 59 so its got to be older than me! I wonder if there is anyone a live who did the tunnelling,to ask how they did it by hand or by other mean's ??? thank's again to all you guy's, it's well appreciated.
Brillient video, thanks for showing us this beauty. In the future plz use a small asbestos rated mask.... All the asbestos would have been every where in that shelter. Thanks for sharing
Irony here is those bricked off walls would be to isolate the damp sections from the dry, clearly they used the drier sections up until fairly recently, by breaking open the walls the damp has been allowed into the more preserved levels causing them to decay more rapidly now.. it also preserved the damp sections leaving more artifacts.. bit of a two edged sword.
Without giving away too much, did you use the sketchy, very public entrance on the roadway by the bus shelter or have you found a different entrance? I'm sure there's another (less risk of being caught) entrance in the old barracks....
freaking copper thiefs need hands bro thats messed up braking stuff that old just for a couple bux dam people keep up the good work IKS love your videos
Why were so many stair treads missing? Do you suppose they were smashed out deliberately/ If they had rotted out, why had the treads supporting all the backfill not also rotted? Curious...
These tunnels took me back to when I was a coal miner in the 1980's.We used the exact same roof supports made from RSJ girders called "Rings" and corrugated iron "sheets" between. The pit I worked down was one of, if not the deepest in Europe at 2,500 feet to the pit bottom.
When I was a miner I sometimes got chance to explore the old workings and was fascinated when walking along old road ways "Gates" as it sometimes felt like time travel, some of your videos give me the same feeling, thank you!!
Thank you for posting this, I was born in Chatham (1972) and bred moved away now but do miss the place as had lovely memories, and it was lovely seeing the sky shots in video one, and i never knew we walked upon all this !! I know much of our military history, the barracks and our naval history through the docks. The Napoleonic forts were always fun as kids but never knew of this. Thank you again for posting.
IKS is an example of how to visit historic places respectfully and why i look forward to these vids each week.
Great vid ★★★★★
+Taranis Cloud thanks for your support :)
Taranis Cloud RespectFULLY? 😉
francisjohnification Thanks
Cheers for for the great work guys. I love these old war bunkers tours. It always make me think about the today's currently active bunkers the Ministry of Defence has. Keep up the great work.
Wow!! That was amazing. I felt like I held my breath watching you climb up/down those stairs!! Brilliant video 👍🏻
Two of the most interesting vids yet, and you've done a few. The fan room has 2 doors so you can get access to the machinery: if there was only one door, you would not be able to open it due to the suction from the air being drawn down from the surface. The air circulation relies on the in take and out flow being isolated from each other. The insulation on the door is probably soundproofing, and it was the motor, not a generator in pieces on the floor. Thanks for taking us along, I enjoyed it.
Dale Skidmore Thank you.
For future reference, and please, relay that to him, never, ever, climb with your legs split like that. Try to keep your body as narrow as possible. If you fall, the chances of getting a cracked bone in places you don't want, ever, to get damage like that are greater.
When i was in hospital, across from me was a guy's pelvis was cracked, he never stopped moaning and begging for medication even tho he was given the maximum dose, fell asleep quite a few times etc. It's not something you want. Keep your limbs packed, you're better off breaking a femur than the key components.
That's a complete generator. Was there any soot in the room? Thieves might've gotten in after the copper in the armature, all i see is the steel element of it. That's vandalism you see there.
That wasn't a generator, that was an electric motor. And yes that was thieves stealing the copper armature from it.
In the fan room, they were remains of an electric motor, the rack looks like it might have been a battery bank with the batteries missing. It was possibly a backup to keep the ventilation going in case of a power failure. Also in the corridors, on the roof beside the original electrical conduit, there is more modern cable tray. I'm not sure when tray was invented but I think it was in the 70s or 80s.
neil Chapman i think the rack was for storing filter mats. In case of a blackout the ventilation was handcranked.
aserta -----Hay man I agree with you when they were coming down the stairs never ever spread your legs and arms out like that, hold on the same railing with both hands and keep both feet on same side also. Just saying dude" because if one foot slips off the way you're doing it with your legs spread out you are most likely going down you won't be able to hold your weight .
Super part two, I'm glad you did the steps as I would have not, I would have stayed at the bottom with a cup of tea and a bite to eat, thanks for your hard work and not sure how you can top this two part video..... Great to see how much of this Bunker is still left and still hanging on....
Wow that is hard to believe there is such a large complex. Especially created during WWII. Almost like science fiction movie! Crazy! thanks
I love your videos IKS Exploration, you've really gotten me into this topic😊
Well done team IKS. One of your best videos, keep up the great work and STAY SAFE!
Excellent video, watching you climb up and down those stairs had me on the edge of my seat
that sound of panic when Chris was alone and made the 'BANG' ha ha ha. Please be careful guys.
Outstanding, but terrifying! What an extraordinarily rich site... thanks for risking life and limb to document it. Cheers -
Brilliant follow up to the first part Ian. One of the best (and probably most dangerous) so far!
+UK HISTORY HUNTER thanks mate yeah very crazy explore lol :)
well what a fantastic part to the video very inspiring you chaps are I'm going to go out in Explorer some locations in this county of Cornwall which I dare say you are well aware of to keep up the good work chaps looking forward to Tuesday now for the blog
and of course next Friday's explore Mark in Cornwall cheers for now
Excellent video guys! Super sketchy stairs though. Good thing the steel framework was still intact. Looked cold, damp, and dusty down there. Thanks for risking your necks to document this special place!
Thanks for the journey, fantastic history in those tunnels, the last bit almost a H.O.E moment.
Great video..and a great explore, nice to see so many bits down there, the stairs look fun too! Hope to bump into you guys again sometime on a 'splore !
God that looked really really dangerous Ian.Good video mate ...
Great Vid.... Pontefract and it's surrounding areas has some extensive medieval tunnels that run for miles, maybe a trip up North? xD
Wow! ... That stairwell was AMAZING!. Great stuff.
+Scribbles thanks for your support:)
The board you crumbled was asbestos gentlemen I deal with it every day !!
best one ever! I await your videos every Friday, thank you so much and the gang, brilliant work, cannot thank you enough from one who used to be an explorer.
Fantastic vid guys , looks a great place.
lol those moves over the gaps it makde you & your mates at the location in the video look like crazy dudes lol & i subscribed as well 15:47 lol that sound Criss made made me laugh as it sounded random
Love your videos, I've watched most every one. I never commented before, but I have to say....the stairs, OMG! I was on the edge of my seat! Scared me to death, it gave me a bit of vertigo, felt like I could fall at any minute. Glad you all made it safe n sound!
Crisp packets from the 70s 😂 I love seeing the litter laying about, like a look at how long something has been there but not a fixture of the place, like some of the graffiti with dates on etc. Good place to investigate and good vid 😉
Fook me, my heart was in my mouth when you lot were climbing those stairs!! great upload.. thank you.
Great exploration guys, thanks for sharing !!
Wow that place seems like it goes on forever and ever. On the stairs .I would of slid down on the other rail banister . But that's just me.
Very cool filming guys thanks for sharing.
fantastic video as usual. However the plant/fan room the piece of the "generator" you where looking at is actually an electric motor, broken apart for the copper armature .
brilliant explore, in the fan room that's not a generator but an electric motor. I do think you need be wary of mold spores, stay safe and keep on with the videos, looking forward to more of your output.
The fan motor is a 415 volt 3-phase wound-rotor motor, the front of the starter (step-start) was just outside the plant room and that used to be on the front of the steel frame to the left of the fan, the frame contained the starting resistances, Nice. J.
Proper excellent vid with extremely scary steps good job guys
Lads that was crazy good once again little brown onions poped out again what an amazing place would love to give up work and do this instead great and brave work 👍
Brilliantly well done everyone. Absolutely top quality as usual. Needs to be preserved before the idiotic vandals wreck everything,
Top vidja chaps, thanks for sharing.
The reason why one door had to be closed before the other was opened is most likely because the room was a plenum chamber, so there was an air pressure differential (as you correctly observed it's an old AHU room).
Also, the door backing at 15.06 is quite likely asbestos, and also likely to be friable insulation so you need to be aware of stuff like that, because there is no safe exposure level for asbestos and that is the worst kind! There are also rope flash guards in fuse boxes often which are pure asbestos. So be careful, fellas! :o)
Only just discovered your channel a few weeks back, awesome videos. Keep it up bud!
+Wet3Leaks thanks for your support :)
omg dude your crazy i dont know if i would of tried them steps that was a verry long drop down great video guys be bcarefull !!!!!!!!!!!!
wow is that like 36 feet in u.s.a. yea bit of a drop there that would hurt !!!
that was amazing, I really don't think I could have tackled those steps in that condition. on the whole though the condition of the place was fantastic and like a time capsule.
Great stuff guys awesomeness as always
Really enjoyed these vids, great to watch as usual guys 👍🏻
Really awesome video, as usual!
Just one minor point to you fine chaps.. What you are referring to as generators are motors. Basically the exact opposit of a generator. Very cool to see all this! Thanks so much for sharing these amazing places.
great video I enjoyed watching it!
Now there is a bit of an urban explorer bootcamp!
another great video! glad everyone made it out okay
I love this channel
Felt nervous just watching you go down those stairs :o
Fantastic video as normal loved it :).
nice vid guys, be careful always.
Hi Iks, the video kept stopping in various places ( could be my phone) other wise the video must be one of your longest yet.It was excellent and very dangerous, especially on those stairs, you are very brave for doing this one.Keep up all your hard work and effort.
David Morris yes same with me
If one of those railings had come loose, it would have been brown trousers time :D Great vid as ever lads.
+Lord Funface The Atomic Toaster it would have been very bad :S
It looks like its snowing by those stairs...is that dust? ...are you breathing that in? Thanks for sharing! I love watching!!! Be safe as always!
"Very brave of you chaps to ascend so many flights of clapped out stairs.. One wrong move old boy, and any one of you could have been heading for the Chop Squadron.. That said; glad you all made it out in one piece. All the best.." :)
Exiting! Great stuff.
There def seems to be some upgrades in there.those brick columns looks newer.as does some of the galv cable trays
Interesting on so many levels.
The rubble filled stair... I feel like you guys were on the correct side. The rubble most likely fills in a starting point, possibly an entrance. You guys seemed to be on the side that the council are trying prevent people from getting in to. Kudos! ;^)
Top video by the way. Great work as always guys. :^)
amazing job guys!
sweaty palms just watching this...
The tunnel in the plant room roof must be an air intake from the surface, as the plant room had two doors to act as an airlock to seal that level off and stop the fan drawing in air from that level and dispersing stale air to the others. It says on the outer remaining door that only one should be opened at a time to stop this.
Great explore, what equipment do you use fir lighting/camera?
It's rather strange that the shallower tunnels have suffered more from damp than the deeper ones - there's more rust visible here. Another quality video. Another one that made me think of the old movie 'The Poseidon Adventure', too - those utterly bastard stairs. Is that rot, or were they deliberately smashed to prevent ingress? Either way, they are properly lethal.
I would have thought the 2 doors in the fan room would have been due to air pressure, if there wasn't 2 doors they wouldn't have been able to open the door due to the higher pressure in that room
That should have rid you of you fear of heights lol. Good practice on each staircase im sure.
Damn guys, very much risc!! glad your guys are oke!
Very impressive video.
Looks like you found the fan motor. Smashed apart for the copper coil.
A tip for you guys, use respiratory protection :) You really don't want to breathe all of the mould and other bacteria in old bunkers,:)
What a cool vid. This guys got some big balls to do this, mind you they might be wide flat pancakes if he falls down those stairs 😂
cool video iks
LOL @8:59 "it's like being born again"
great video
16:48 -- Is that a can of red bull? Didn't know they had those back in the day ;D
I remember a dim tale from my uncle Nick who was on a detail down there prob in the sixties as he was based at the base and when his sub was in dock would be put to base duties, I imagine it would have been a lot cleaner and parts still operating at that point.
That's a good old way down if you fell, how deep do you think the tunnel's are under ground guy's,also how dry it is i was born 59 so its got to be older than me! I wonder if there is anyone a live who did the tunnelling,to ask how they did it by hand or by other mean's ??? thank's again to all you guy's, it's well appreciated.
you need your own TV show
Surprised the tunnels are not full of water ! Wonder how the drainage was handed ?
I've live here any idea where this is I've lived here for 24 years born and raised had no idea this excited
+autofill19 we don't give out locations, it's in Chatham somewhere :) we need to save the sites from vandals :)
I live in Medway and I assume these tunnels are set into the lines. there is a blocked entrance at the bottom of Chatham hill
Why did you leave parts of the audio out after 17:05.
Brillient video, thanks for showing us this beauty. In the future plz use a small asbestos rated mask.... All the asbestos would have been every where in that shelter. Thanks for sharing
Might be a good idea to wear a particle mask down in these places. Lots of mold and funky dust. Pneumonia is no joke.
Irony here is those bricked off walls would be to isolate the damp sections from the dry, clearly they used the drier sections up until fairly recently, by breaking open the walls the damp has been allowed into the more preserved levels causing them to decay more rapidly now.. it also preserved the damp sections leaving more artifacts.. bit of a two edged sword.
any idea why this video freezes yet the sound carries on? other you tube videos run ok?????
Without giving away too much, did you use the sketchy, very public entrance on the roadway by the bus shelter or have you found a different entrance? I'm sure there's another (less risk of being caught) entrance in the old barracks....
+Solaris same dodgy way in yep :) no other entrances open :)
Solaris I've been searching high and low with a friend by the big bus shelter with no luck yet. Help me out please!
do you get your gear from the shop in Canterbury?
the Generator / fan room, looks like thy cut the copper stater out of the motor
freaking copper thiefs need hands bro thats messed up braking stuff that old just for a couple bux dam people keep up the good work IKS love your videos
I really wish we could hear what the upper level is... ugh the curiosity is killlinnnnnnn meeee. is there stuff up there?
+fhhsvnggbh would have gone to the upper outside entrance, we block out location names we talk about :)
good video
For a guys who does not like heights you done well bro. atb
Theres a big gap between floors, is there more hidden levels?
Why were so many stair treads missing? Do you suppose they were smashed out deliberately/ If they had rotted out, why had the treads supporting all the backfill not also rotted? Curious...
it seems maybe the people who demolished the upper entrance chucked massive rocks down the stairs :(
Can I ask what light you have on the gopro?
have the same building system in each tunnel:)
3 phase fan motor stripped for it's copper windings.
👍
Be safe.