Domus Dei ( Royal Garrison church ) - Portsmouth

I had a free day from university, so I thought I would head up to Portsmouth for the day, as I had wanted to visit for a long time. I started by exploring the arcades and then stumbled across a church. Not knowing much about it, I decided to take a look inside. Thankfully, the church was open.

As I walked through the gates and down the path, I entered the church and was greeted by a lovely lady who explained why some of the roof was missing. She even showed me how high the flames from the fire had reached.

This charming little church was built in 1210. It is noteworthy that King Charles II married his wife there in 1662. The church underwent restoration in the 19th century. Sadly, in 1941, during the Blitz, the church was hit by a firebomb, which destroyed the roof. The church is now owned by English Heritage.

WT Hanley Factory - Northfleet/Gravesend

After we explored the tunnels, we headed over to the factory, hoping to get in after seeing some photos online just a week before. However, after walking for a good 20 minutes and looking for different ways to enter, we decided to call it a bust, as we couldn't find the entrance that others had used before. Nevertheless, seeing the factory from the outside was still interesting.

The factory closed in 2008 and relocated to a new site near London because the company needed a bigger space. It originally opened in 1906 and expanded to Gravesend in 1926. During wartime, it helped manufacture materials such as gas masks and other items. In 1967, the site was taken over by an electric company but was eventually closed down in 2008.

WT Henley // AEI Cable Works Air Raid Shelter - Northfleet gravened

It seems we are among the few explorers to visit this location, as not much information is available online about these tunnels. Getting inside was quite interesting; we had to go through a narrow passage where the walls brushed against my arms and legs, which made it easier to crab crawl through. 

 

Once inside, I was shocked by how clean and untouched the site was, with so many items scattered around and seemingly left behind. It was nice to see a change of scenery. Once we were in the tunnels, we started to wander around without knowing where each passage led. We took in the atmosphere and enjoyed being the only ones down there. I believe we spent around four hours exploring these tunnels.

 

According to what I found, these tunnels were built in the chalk pit in 1931 and were designed to hold around 2,000 workers from the factory. There were six different entrances along the chalk pit to make accessing the tunnels easier during air raids. Unfortunately, the factory closed in 2008, and the tunnels were left abandoned.