Originally constructed as a railway to connect the harbour of the town with the main train line, Ramsgate Tunnels are two and a half miles long and in some places are as much as 27 metres below the surface. The largest of the tunnels, dates back to October 1863, when it was opened as a railway tunnel serving Ramsgate Harbour Station.
The line closed in 1926, when the current Ramsgate station opened. However, the tunnel was brought back into use in 1936, when a narrow gauge railway ran between Hereson Road and the seafront.
The second phase of construction for the Tunnels was during the Second World War, when the Mayor or Ramsgate commissioned the construction of a series of tunnels to serve as underground shelters to protect the inhabitants of Ramsgate. Due to Ramsgate’s close proximity to Europe, the town suffered from heavy bombing during the Second World War.
On 24 August 1940, 500 German bombs were dropped on Ramsgate in just five minutes. Despite the heavy bombardment, the deep shelters saved lives and as a consequence only 29 civilians and two soldiers were lost. The bombardment on 24 August 1940 destroyed roughly 1,200 homes and, as a result of homelessness, roughly 300 families took to living in the tunnels on a permanent basis.
The tunnels became a subterranean town with shops, barbers, canteens, concerts and even an underground hospital. After the end of the war, the tunnels were slowly sealed and abandoned.