Archaeologists unearth bunker made to catch invading French

Using the latest imaging technology they have discovered a rare listening post buried deep underground. Described as an ‘upside-down Martello Tower’ the buried rooms would keep an ear out for tunnelling Frenchmen.

A team of field excavators from the University of Norfolk, led by Professor Trevor Rowel, has been mapping the site close to Camber Castle, near Rye, for over 12 months. Tina Rench, who has been with the dig since it started last February, says everyone on the team is very excited about the find as very little is known about attempts to keep Napoleon’s forces at bay from English soil.

“The building is like an upside-down lighthouse, sunk 10 meters into the ground, with rooms of increasingly smaller size as you descend. We believe that soldiers would have sat in the lower chamber with large glass instruments shaped like trumpets to their ear. They were listening for the tell-tale scraping of Gallic tunnellers, who had dug their way under the English Channel as part of their invasion plans. They would have had to sit in silence and the rooms must have got very hot indeed.”

Ms Rench said that the walls appear to be in good condition, according to their magnetic resonance readings. She says; “The wet soil seems to have kept the bricks from drying out and crumbling and the building is now full of mud, which had probably helped it keep it’s shape.”

English Heritage will be called in to examine the site and discussions on the future of the rare historical building can begin.

The site is in the middle of a collection of deterrents to French invasion. The Royal Military Canal, Camber Castle and the Martello Towers that are strung along the coast, have yet to see any real action against the French. No-one is sure how long the building was in use for, as fear of espionage meant that King George III kept few records of his French war plans.