Our tour continued with Frank leading us down a spiral staircase to a locked room below the main building, part of the old Langdon Battery. The room was originally the Magazine where shells and cartridges were stored to serve the guns. Frank unlocked the door and led us through, giving us access to the tunnel, which slowly descended for quite a distance through both chalk and flint, to the cliff observation point. The furthest point of the tunnel had been bricked up many years ago, and no one knows (or really wants to find out) what the state of the tunnel is in, behind this barrier. We climbed a few stairs to see an access shaft, no longer in use. At various intervals along the tunnel were metal frames attached to the wall which would have housed electrical cables at one time. There were also pieces of wartime graffitti. History of Langdon Battery Langdon Battery is situated well back from the cliff edge on the top of  the White Cliffs above Langdon Bay to the East of Dover Castle. Built originally in 1904, it saw service during both world wars, and continued until 1956. Originally armed with three 9.2 inch guns, it had in addition two 6 inch guns and was the Examination Battery for Dover Harbour. There was a searchlight battery at the base of the cliffs which could illuminate ships at night while they were under the guns of the battery above. After lying derelict for 23 years it was chosen as the site for the new Dover Straights Maritime Rescue and Co-ordination Centre, due to its excellant position overlooking the busy Channel Straights. Work began in the late 1970's. At first the conractors tried to demolish the superstructure, but after drilling the concrete full of holes, it proved to be too tough a job. The plans were changed  and the new Coastguard buildings were built on top of and incorporated into the existing structure.

After this unique diversion, we were taken back up the spiral staircase and shown the Major Operations/Training Room, from here we had a tremendous view over Dover Harbour and surrounding countryside, and of course Dover Straight. Finally we were taken to the 'nerve centre' the Control Room, where a further 5 coastguards were on duty. Frank explained what each of the five officers were responsible for and we were shown various screens depicting the current traffic movements in Dover Straight. During our visit there were well over 300 vessels of varying sizes in their area. Our visit was coming to a close, we thanked all of the officers and especially Frank who really engaged with us, and said our goodbyes. After 3 hours we were all feeling ready for refreshments. Our Diving Officer - David Jones who had organised the visit , (Thank You David, well done!) had also booked for lunch at the nearby Swingate Inn, we all enjoyed a chat, drink and lunch before heading home at about 4.30pm. As a sign of our appreciation of the day's events, a collection was made and a donation of £50 was made to the: Royal National Lifeboat Institute .