Going underground..

"I'm going underground (going underground)
Well, if the brass bands play and feet start to pound
Going underground (going underground)
Well, let the boys all sing and let the boys all shout for tomorrow".

"Going Underground" - Song by The Jam 

Time for another update (finally - apologies, been busy elsewhere in the interim ⛵😀), and I think time to put this little project to bed....

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A few months ago I joined the (absolutely excellent) Palmerston Forts Society [clicky], mainly because of my interest in the Lines, but also the many other "follies" Mr Palmerston built in the area for the defence of the Dockyard and surrounding area's against the expected depredations of the 'dastardly French'.

Shoot forward a few months though and I was more than a little interested then when I heard via email that the society was planning to do a hosted walk of the Lines, and even more excited at the wordage "bring a torch"..  got my name on the list, and last weekend I finally got to close out those last few difficult items that were on my Lines bucket list...

Format for the walk was to first have a look around the gun platform/forward facing/upper floor in one of the still occupied bastions... a number of the bastions are still used, one of them (far west end) is used by the school whose sports grounds are just behind it, one of the bastions has a WW1 memorial museum in it, this one, #4, has a café [clicky] in what I guess would have been the old catering area for the bastion, the messes for the men are all used as rehearsal studios (😏) the gun platform/gallery though was used by a shooting club and they'd allowed us access to have a look..   as a reminder, this is a cross section of how the bastions would have looked..

Front face to the right, rear to the left.. accommodation/kitchens/ablutions to the left (lower level), gun platform/gallery to the right (upper level)

Going to start with this one which is a view down the gun gallery.. the gun openings are to the left..

Gun opening..  bricked and barred now, but still in astonishing condition - the blocks/surrounds are granite...

Vaulted/blast proof roofing and ventilation/extraction hole..

Further gun position details - tracks still in place..

Original notice by the side of one of the positions - reads something like RBL (Rifled Breech Loading)  7" and a number XVI

Entrance to the gun gallery - following - remember the format of those steps for later in the post..

Everything is curved in these buildings for blast proofing..

Having left the bastion we then proceeded via the footpaths to the top of the Lines - open to all, there are plenty of paths to follow..  over the age of the Lines there were many developments in the design but when it was first built there was an expectation that a lot of the guns would be mounted on top - not surprisingly therefore there are lots of "expense magazines" (basically -  a protected position for convenient access to ready use ammunition for the guns) dotted around - first one was almost directly above the café..

Bottle aside..  note the ventilation at the back, vaulted ceiling (again) and it is half buried into the ground for extra protection..   six rows of bricks in the arch..

Proceeding further along the top we then ticked off one of those items on my bucket list - this is one of the six Moncrieff counter-weight disappearing gun pits for 7-inch RML and 7-inch RBL [clicky] that were added in the late 1880's..

Solid concrete but scored to look like blocks..

...and built in the days before ferro concrete so this one has suffered from subsidence and has cracked completely through on one side..

Climbing back down to ground level behind the lines we then got to tick off another bucket item..  this is the East Centre Curtain wall..

...and you can get in to it courtesy of generations of "yoof" who have removed the gates previously closing it off..  there's them steps again - different place but same function as these also provide access to a gun gallery..

Not so pleasant as the last one - sandy/soil floor and lots and lots of soot and graffiti - but stunning for all that - history at your finger tips..   

Gun position - granite again - the expense that must have been incurred building them beggars belief - and the Lines were never even used!

Looking down into one of the barracks rooms..

Barracks on lower floors were separated from the gun gallery by these corrugated metal walls each with it's own window/opening - that corrugated metal is original - they built things to last..

I think these are expense magazines for the gallery

Sorry - best I could do with a torch, but here's a long view looing back along the gallery.. shows at least four barracks to the left..

Gun opening with curtain walls either side..

Steps down to main magazine..

They they are again...  I am convinced that everything in the Lines was built to a War Office standard so you see multiple identical features all over the place, not the least being these steps, but also the brick arches over the entrances comprising the same number of rows of bricks..

Main magazine - note the ventilation slit - this would have had a raised wooden floor

Note the line of bricks to the left that would have supported the floor joists..

Feed hole - ammunition would have been assed through there - the expense magazines are just the other side, so it would have been stored there for immediate use..  no evidence of how the ammunition was shifted - I'm going to guess as the Lines were never used, it was never considered..

Gun carriage guide..

Evidence of shelving still in situ..

...and amazingly - multiple examples of original wood frames and doors still in place..

...the west wing/side was in considerably better condition - it may well have been used for filming recently??  Jury's out..  but note..  six rows of bricks in the arches.. 😏

..one of the barracks even had it's original fireplace - the only one I saw all day...wonder how many are now installed in various desirable residences across the country courtesy various architectural recyclers?? 😏  Gives you an idea how high the wooden floor would have been above ground/soil - that brick on the right is sitting on the line of bricks providing the joist support..

Visiting that was the highlight of the day that was for me..  having exited though, a walk further along the curtain towards the railway entry showed these two large rooms - going to guess offices, but they may well have been galley/kitchen - no access, or opening, to the gun gallery..

Big fireplace.. and entry to the next room..

Also big...

..with a major fireplace too - opposite side of the wall to the one in the first room so sharing a chimney..

...at which point it was back on to the top via this glorious staircase..

..original hand rails - sad git that I am I was much taken with these - how MANY hands have gripped these over the 150 odd years of their existence..  and they're still there, and still solid..

...walking east another expense magazine - small as it is, note the 6 rows of bricks in the arch.. 😏

...then back to the beginning of the walk via the sally port, before returning home via The Sir Loin of Beef for a couple of pints  ..  

Hugely enjoyable afternoon, and without a doubt I'll go back at a future date and have another look around - but for now, this little project is closed, and it's time to start looking for the next project..

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 Laters, as the young people are want to say...