Secret Room 2 ....... "Nazi Bunker"
Discussion
An update from the weekend.
You'll know by now that we can't dig unless we clear first.
Dave came round this afternoon and we finally spent an hour or so making a little progress. The slope of collapsed rock, which is the next area we're focussing on, now has a load a fir trees growing on it. They're actually fairly tall. Before I'm able to do any more excavating of this area, the trees (or at least the largest shown here below beforehand) will have to go.
The aim is to drop it down accurately between those two shrubs in the foreground without damaging them. Dave dons his special safety helmet (which actually did protect him from a falling pine cone).
And then climbs up the spoil to the base of the trunk.....
Where he started by stripping some of the lower branches.
Before downing tools and refusing to do the chain-sawing. So it was left to me, to make a classic wedge cut at the front of the tree and then the single cut at the back.....
What happened next though was unexpected comedy. The tree gracefully fell to 45 degrees, stopped and hung there! Rather like the toppled statute of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
We then all watched bemused as it sank several more feet in extra slow motion before the trunk finally cracked and it dropped to the ground. Someone took a video which I'll upload onto the blog later. After that Dave went back to work and chopped it up.
(see, no shrubs damaged there
)
I did say that the next bit was going to involve "just a little bit" more work, didn't I?
You'll know by now that we can't dig unless we clear first.
Dave came round this afternoon and we finally spent an hour or so making a little progress. The slope of collapsed rock, which is the next area we're focussing on, now has a load a fir trees growing on it. They're actually fairly tall. Before I'm able to do any more excavating of this area, the trees (or at least the largest shown here below beforehand) will have to go.
The aim is to drop it down accurately between those two shrubs in the foreground without damaging them. Dave dons his special safety helmet (which actually did protect him from a falling pine cone).
And then climbs up the spoil to the base of the trunk.....
Where he started by stripping some of the lower branches.
Before downing tools and refusing to do the chain-sawing. So it was left to me, to make a classic wedge cut at the front of the tree and then the single cut at the back.....
What happened next though was unexpected comedy. The tree gracefully fell to 45 degrees, stopped and hung there! Rather like the toppled statute of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
We then all watched bemused as it sank several more feet in extra slow motion before the trunk finally cracked and it dropped to the ground. Someone took a video which I'll upload onto the blog later. After that Dave went back to work and chopped it up.
(see, no shrubs damaged there
)I did say that the next bit was going to involve "just a little bit" more work, didn't I?
Edited by CY88 on Monday 18th August 01:09
Darkslider said:
Looking forward to the freaky gravity defying tree video.
OK, so its not a big tree, but a tree nonetheless http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=D9zAemKYBY8
Business Network Article highlighting the number of accidents caused by mundane everyday things said:
Trouser-related injuries alone climbed to 5,945 -- up from 5,137 --the report warned, accounting for almost five times as many injuries as chain saws during the same time period (1,207).
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_28_...
Well I've now got hold of a photo taken in 1946 of the garden in front of my house, showing the rockface where the tunnel entrance is. It doesn't look like the rockface has been collapsed in the photo, although its also possible that the tunnel entrance may already have been partially covered over. The ground level on the right appears much higher than at the moment, and there seems to be rubble lying on the ground in the background. I've put a photo taken today from where I think is roughly the same vantage point
1946
2008
Its a little disappointing that this is the only photo of my garden (all the others he sent are of next door). Its also a shame that there's nothing in the picture to show that its taken just after the war (abandoned military vehicles perhaps?)
However, the good thing is that it looks like there was a solid quarry face behind where the tunnel entrance comes out, so once I clear the spoil away from the entrance, I'm hoping there's at least a 30 foot high wall of solid rock and I may not have to worry too much about having to build any retaining structure.
1945 aerials again for comparison with the garden shot.....
1946
2008
Its a little disappointing that this is the only photo of my garden (all the others he sent are of next door). Its also a shame that there's nothing in the picture to show that its taken just after the war (abandoned military vehicles perhaps?)
However, the good thing is that it looks like there was a solid quarry face behind where the tunnel entrance comes out, so once I clear the spoil away from the entrance, I'm hoping there's at least a 30 foot high wall of solid rock and I may not have to worry too much about having to build any retaining structure.
1945 aerials again for comparison with the garden shot.....
fatboy18 said:
Hows it going CY88, Any more news as to when the next installemnt of diging is going to take place? Has the missus put her foot down and said stop? When you do start to dig where the hell is all the waste rock going to go? That would be a hell of a pile on the driveway 
Ha! Its not been going anywhere at the moment. First, the weathers not been great. Second, I'm currently trying to persuade Mrs88 that the cost of developing the bunker into a usuable garage is justifiable. And as with anything like this, once you start thinking about moving large amounts of rock and stuff about, you begin wondering whether there's other things you can do at the same time, and so it goes on. So there are walls and stuff planned, which will use up some of the rock. And I will try to keep a pile aside to face an extension that I'm planning in the future. Waste not want not.
And I haven't had the ladder down to go inside since the beginning of August, so its definitely full of spiders now.
And there's one historian who maintains that there may be something else hidden behind all the rock.... who's interest is mainly piqued by that warehouse that was built to the south in late 1945. A chap in Australia sent me an animated gif overlaying two of the wartime aerials....
Mrs88 is getting a bit peeved that there are "still two garden benches blocking the precipice to the hole in our yard", and keeps reminding me that "its not very safe for the kids, or the dog... and in fact, is this going to be another one of those things that you start and never get round to finishing?.... like the shelves in the bathroom?"
"Relax", I told her on Sunday. "I climbed down inside today and its all nice and dry despite the heavy rain we had last week". "Yeah", she says, "but you got that skip delivered last week and all you did was fill it with junk from the garage! It's just typical!"
"Relax", I told her on Sunday. "I climbed down inside today and its all nice and dry despite the heavy rain we had last week". "Yeah", she says, "but you got that skip delivered last week and all you did was fill it with junk from the garage! It's just typical!"
Small update:
The sun came out today, so I went underground. We managed to shift lots of the more managable bits and pieces from the bunker.
Which enabled us to sweep some more of the floor at the back, which is smooth and dry underneath:
A few more pictures on the blog: http://gardenbunker.blogspot.com/
The sun came out today, so I went underground. We managed to shift lots of the more managable bits and pieces from the bunker.
Which enabled us to sweep some more of the floor at the back, which is smooth and dry underneath:
A few more pictures on the blog: http://gardenbunker.blogspot.com/
And here's one someone else made earlier:-
The Kingsway tunnels....up for sale in London now for a cool £5 million.....
http://www.24dash.com/news/communities/2008-10-15-...
The Kingsway tunnels....up for sale in London now for a cool £5 million.....
http://www.24dash.com/news/communities/2008-10-15-...
KingRichard said:
CY88 said:
Random update:
Quite amazingly, the (long overdue an update) bunker story is currently the first item returned on Google search if you type in "German Bunker"
Yeah but think of all the related links!Quite amazingly, the (long overdue an update) bunker story is currently the first item returned on Google search if you type in "German Bunker"
Are you doing anything else with this? I gave up around page 80 what with all the links being posted, as I couldn't see any updates!
It makes sense to do all the excavation as a job lot.Munter said:
Just out of interest. Does having bunker affect the old council tax/need planning. Obviously it's been there a few years so I presume it's all fine and can just be added to plans when you come to sell the house/you die and your kids split up your assets.
I checked with the planning authorities about reusing it to make sure there wasn't any implications. They said that as far as they were concerned, as it had been there for over 50 years, they were not worried if it was used as a workshop / storage. I'm not sure yet whether I need to add it to the council tax equivalent return form once its being used? Homes, gardens, and DIY!! I turn my back for a few months, and somebody sees fit to Lewellyn-Bowen the thread!
I really need to fire up those diggers again! I concede that my meagre input does not deserve the No1 google search ranking for "German Bunker", the 800,000 hits, and as of this spring, the official Jersey Tourism listing:-
http://www.jersey.com/english/discoverjersey/occup...
I wonder if anyone has tried to add it their holiday itinery?
I really need to fire up those diggers again! I concede that my meagre input does not deserve the No1 google search ranking for "German Bunker", the 800,000 hits, and as of this spring, the official Jersey Tourism listing:-
http://www.jersey.com/english/discoverjersey/occup...
I wonder if anyone has tried to add it their holiday itinery?
I've been mulling recently over a particular detail of last year's events which I didn't at the time reveal. In fact, the incident probably had a bearing on the momentum of my excavation plans, and caused much discussion among a close circle of people that I revealed it to. For the sake of completeness (and this thread flashing up again) I thought that I'd recount a little about it now.
About a week or two after we'd opened the bunker, when interest was at its peak, I had a phone call from an excited chap who introduced himself as a historian.
He asked if he could come round and have a look. I agreed. He asked if he could come straight away (i think it was about 7.00pm). Given that my enthusiam was still running at a high I agreed, and about half an hour later he arrived, bringing with him a friend who had what I can only describe as an industrial size hand held spotlight (5 million lumen?).
They pulled up and got out of the car, and immediately started surveying the garden, asking lots of questions about orientation of the land, water courses, drainage, whether I knew the history of the property etc etc. They asked if they could have a good look around the garden before looking inside the bunker, and I left them to it for a few minutes.
The historian was, at a guess, in his early 60s, and had long thinning grey hair. He was wearing (no joke) a heavily patinaed Indiana Jones style leather jacket and desert boots.
They got extremely excited whilst looking at the aerial photos from the war that I'd handed them. They commented in quiet voices to themselves about the fact that there appeared to have been a warehouse built at the southern end of the property at the latter stages of the war. They pointed at the collapsed northern quarryface. I strained my ears and heard the historian in hushed discussion with his colleague asking "why would the germans have done that, whilst their army was in retreat across Europe at that time, when the occupying forces were preparing to surrender?" "What did they have to hide?"
Shortly afterwards, when they were walking abck towards me, i overheard other man say to the the historian, "Do you think this could really be the place?"
The historian told me he'd spent his whole life scouring every german fortification and bunker in the Channel Islands, and had never come across details of the one in my garden before. It was getting darker and I noticed that his air of excitement had not abated.
We then climbed down inside the bunker, and they were very interested in the fact that the entrance to the bunker faced north towards the quarry face, and not south, which they noted would have provided an easier entrance. We discussed the rumours about a longer tunnel that existing in the vicinty (which I did post about). He told me that some people were not quite so open to believing the rumours as others, and the two of them discussed something I couldn't hear between themselves again.
They'd been at the house quite some time by this stage, and I invited them inside the house to show them the photos that I'd taken of the excavation that we'd been doing, which were on the computer. Again, further interest.
The historian then asked if I'd had any contact from the media. I said I'd had several approaches. He then leant in and quietly suggested that for the moment I might perhaps play my cards close to my chest until some more research was done.
He then spent some consideration time telling me about avenues of investigation open to him through official records offices and archived military resources. He suggested to me some avenues of enquiry i might undetake (some of which I have explored and posted about, others which I have not).
By this stage it was dark and late. The visitors had been at the house several hours, and showed no signs of leaving. I decided to politely suggest we carry on our discussions another time, and the historian apologised, explaining this was his passion and that he sometimes got carried away with himself.
I walked out to the car with them, and as the historian was getting in through the door, he again reminded me to be cautious about taking up any offers of assistance just yet. He then leant into the car, opened the glovebox, and told me that he was going to show me something.
He then held out to me a rolled up clutch of old papers covered in manuscript notes. He gestured me to take them. I asked what they were? He smiled and suggested take them and read them. As I took the string bound paperwork, he got in the car and shut the door. Then, as he drove off, he leant out out of the window and shouted "When you've read them, get in touch and we'll talk some more!".
I went back inside, thinking how slightly surreal the whole experience had been. Then I poured myself a drink, sat down, and unrolled the papers, flattening them in a small pile on the desktop.
Slowly I read the first page. Then the second. I took another slug of drink and scratched my head in disbelief. I read the third and laughed to myself in excitement. After the fourth I got up and had to walk around the room.
Before reading further I got on the phone to Dave. I re-read the first four pages to him, before continuing through page after page of notes. When i eventually finished, Dave asked whether I thought it was for real? I told him I honestly didn't know. In fact, I still don't know....
About a week or two after we'd opened the bunker, when interest was at its peak, I had a phone call from an excited chap who introduced himself as a historian.
He asked if he could come round and have a look. I agreed. He asked if he could come straight away (i think it was about 7.00pm). Given that my enthusiam was still running at a high I agreed, and about half an hour later he arrived, bringing with him a friend who had what I can only describe as an industrial size hand held spotlight (5 million lumen?).
They pulled up and got out of the car, and immediately started surveying the garden, asking lots of questions about orientation of the land, water courses, drainage, whether I knew the history of the property etc etc. They asked if they could have a good look around the garden before looking inside the bunker, and I left them to it for a few minutes.
The historian was, at a guess, in his early 60s, and had long thinning grey hair. He was wearing (no joke) a heavily patinaed Indiana Jones style leather jacket and desert boots.
They got extremely excited whilst looking at the aerial photos from the war that I'd handed them. They commented in quiet voices to themselves about the fact that there appeared to have been a warehouse built at the southern end of the property at the latter stages of the war. They pointed at the collapsed northern quarryface. I strained my ears and heard the historian in hushed discussion with his colleague asking "why would the germans have done that, whilst their army was in retreat across Europe at that time, when the occupying forces were preparing to surrender?" "What did they have to hide?"
Shortly afterwards, when they were walking abck towards me, i overheard other man say to the the historian, "Do you think this could really be the place?"
The historian told me he'd spent his whole life scouring every german fortification and bunker in the Channel Islands, and had never come across details of the one in my garden before. It was getting darker and I noticed that his air of excitement had not abated.
We then climbed down inside the bunker, and they were very interested in the fact that the entrance to the bunker faced north towards the quarry face, and not south, which they noted would have provided an easier entrance. We discussed the rumours about a longer tunnel that existing in the vicinty (which I did post about). He told me that some people were not quite so open to believing the rumours as others, and the two of them discussed something I couldn't hear between themselves again.
They'd been at the house quite some time by this stage, and I invited them inside the house to show them the photos that I'd taken of the excavation that we'd been doing, which were on the computer. Again, further interest.
The historian then asked if I'd had any contact from the media. I said I'd had several approaches. He then leant in and quietly suggested that for the moment I might perhaps play my cards close to my chest until some more research was done.
He then spent some consideration time telling me about avenues of investigation open to him through official records offices and archived military resources. He suggested to me some avenues of enquiry i might undetake (some of which I have explored and posted about, others which I have not).
By this stage it was dark and late. The visitors had been at the house several hours, and showed no signs of leaving. I decided to politely suggest we carry on our discussions another time, and the historian apologised, explaining this was his passion and that he sometimes got carried away with himself.
I walked out to the car with them, and as the historian was getting in through the door, he again reminded me to be cautious about taking up any offers of assistance just yet. He then leant into the car, opened the glovebox, and told me that he was going to show me something.
He then held out to me a rolled up clutch of old papers covered in manuscript notes. He gestured me to take them. I asked what they were? He smiled and suggested take them and read them. As I took the string bound paperwork, he got in the car and shut the door. Then, as he drove off, he leant out out of the window and shouted "When you've read them, get in touch and we'll talk some more!".
I went back inside, thinking how slightly surreal the whole experience had been. Then I poured myself a drink, sat down, and unrolled the papers, flattening them in a small pile on the desktop.
Slowly I read the first page. Then the second. I took another slug of drink and scratched my head in disbelief. I read the third and laughed to myself in excitement. After the fourth I got up and had to walk around the room.
Before reading further I got on the phone to Dave. I re-read the first four pages to him, before continuing through page after page of notes. When i eventually finished, Dave asked whether I thought it was for real? I told him I honestly didn't know. In fact, I still don't know....
Edited by CY88 on Tuesday 9th June 22:41
deviant said:
Fewzz said:
Cant be something that important can it? otherwise this would have been mentioned before?
IF its something big then WOW
Could be something hugely important or historically important however I would want to make sure that my theories were 100% sound and the area was secure from press, looters and IF its something big then WOW
Don't anyone think that I was wasn't itching to post more about this last year.
I'm just not entirely certain "what" I can post publically over and above the background as to how I personally came into possession of the papers. The content of the papers though (a) was written by somebody else (b) could be, as has been said, very important and (c) even if ultimately proved wrong, is so plausible and exciting in itself that I would want to think very carefully about how to deal with that sort of information - see for instance Link
I'm going to have a look at them again to see if I can post perhaps a innocuous snippet
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