Overview
- The Fan Bay Plotting Room opened to visitors on Friday after conservation work by the National Trust following its 2017 rediscovery.
- Built in 1940 to direct coastal guns across the Strait of Dover, the underground room contains wartime equipment including a fire direction table that calculated gun aim and elevation.
- Conservators left the space 'as found' so visitors can see peeling paint, wartime graffiti, exposed pipes and original fittings rather than recreated displays.
- Volunteers researched service records and photographs to match names and marks on the walls to individuals who worked there, and those personal histories are part of the interpretation.
- Tours must be booked in advance through the National Trust and visitors follow the original access route down into the room as part of the guided experience, which highlights Dover's role on Britain’s front line known as 'Hellfire Corner.'