Devils Dyke Mystery..

[sam86]

Does it have 'Dean' graffitied on it?

 

[Bevendean Hillbilly]

My mistake. I meant the steep grade railway.

The cableway was where you say it was. In fact there's still some tumbled masonry at the bottom of the valley which I've been told is the remains of one of the cableway piers.

You might be right fella, apparently the steep grade railway ran down to Poynings so that would be about right. The remains of the Cable car plinths are still visible in the dyke itself apparently.

 

[Bevendean Hillbilly]

abnd where exactly is this gun / telescope ? i'm ashamed to say i've never noticed it!

Not there now, it was....

Here.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

Not there now, it was....

Here.

Why is it pointing towards the north and not France...who was the enemy.

 

[Bevendean Hillbilly]

Why is it pointing towards the north and not France...who was the enemy.

Buggers Hole.

Treacherous BASTARDS

 

[Scotty Mac]

i f***ing LOVE devils dyke

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

It could be something left over from WWII; there was a large anti-arcraft battery located at Devil's Dyke at the time, with the ammunition etc being brought up via the old railway line. It's route comes out between the shops and the Downs Man pub at the top of Hangleton Way.

 

[Bevendean Hillbilly]

It could be something left over from WWII; there was a large anti-arcraft battery located at Devil's Dyke at the time, with the ammunition etc being brought up via the old railway line. It's route comes out between the shops and the Downs Man pub at the top of Hangleton Way.

Well it has had a right pasting from something during hostilities. If you wander over there and look at the wall facing the Dyke Pub there are several large caliber bullet holes obviously made by an automatic weapon as well as what looks like shrapnel and small arms fire. On the North facing wall once again large caliber bullet damage, and south wall further evidence of automatic fire.

I am not an expert but it looks like a lot of the bullet holes were caused by something firing down on the building Enemy aircraft? RAF practice?

There are also several suspicious craters around it. Perhaps it is the old winding house up from poynings but which had a gun emplacement sited on it?

I would very much like to know how it recieved such battle damage.

 

[Ninja Elephant]

i f***ing LOVE devils dyke

As do I. Stunning place, I love cycling straight down the Dyke itself, praying to survive! Really cool place to just go and wander. In fact, if the weather is nice, I might take my radio receving mp3 player up there and listen to the Albion game. I hope there's reception.

 

[Theatre of Trees]

It's not the funicular railway as the remains of the engine house at the top is to the east of the pub.

It's a military storehouse of some kind as there are no windows in the structure except for the small room which I am presuming to be a small guardroom. The bullet holes could be from the Luftwaffe who flew regularly over the Downs during the Battle of Britain.

 

[Bevendean Hillbilly]

It's not the funicular railway as the remains of the engine house at the top is to the east of the pub.

It's a military storehouse of some kind as there are no windows in the structure except for the small room which I am presuming to be a small guardroom. The bullet holes could be from the Luftwaffe who flew regularly over the Downs during the Battle of Britain.

What were they storing up there? surely its a bit exposed, unless it was a gun emplacement? brickwork looks pre WW2 though.

On the subject of the Cannon...
THE BRIGHTON GUN
On the front cover of Casemate 66 is a photograph of a 110-ton gun on top of Devil's Dyke, near Brighton. Charles Trollope gave a correct explanation of the gun and wondered how it ended up in Brighton. The answer is that the picture shows a replica which was installed when part of this Sussex beauty spot was used as an amusement park: "... an aerial railway ascends the Dyke and visitors are on all sides invited to shoot a bottle on a string, to throw balls at coconuts, to witness the optical illusion of growing fat and otherwise to amuse themselves. There is a good hotel on the summit of the Dyke commanding a view of the Weald, and a wooden model of the 110-ton Armstrong gun"

(H.G.Daniels, Hove with its surrounding — a handbook for visitors and residents. Homeland Handbooks October 1907)

John Goodwin.

Charles Blackwood rang in immediately he saw Casemate, "Surely that gun is made of wood?" Did anyone else spot it?

 

[Seagull's Return]

The small-arms and shrapnel marks are from the Canadian military exercises that took place all along the Downs in this part of the world in WW2. The structure itself is, I think, to do with the AA defences and the railway - not sure, though. It's on National Trust land, so they'll know if anyone's desperate to find out.

 

[Bevendean Hillbilly]

There was a secret supposedly bomb proof structure built at the Dyke in 1918..my moneys on that;

Exerpt from the National Archive office record:


Record Summary:
Scope and content: Construction of aerial-bomb proof range at Devil's Dyke, near Brighton, Sussex
Covering dates: 1918


It is now no longer secret but no one has bothered to request information.

 

[¤DãŃn¥ §êãGüLL¤]

i f***ing LOVE devils dyke

Me too, best dogging spot EVER.


Although I did catch two blokes having it doggy style in a bush there once and they gave chase and threw rocks at me.......!?

 

[Surf 'n' Turf]

Not sure what it is, but could have been anti aircraft? These were dotted all over the place. The Germans would often drop off any excess bombs on their raids back to Germany / main land Europe.

Could it be similar to the ones over Shoreham Airport, which are all along the side of the river bank.

Also, some from earlier over Shoreham beach, at the old fort.

 

[Surf 'n' Turf]

Shoreham Fort.......

and how it is today...

 

[biggles]

Me too, best dogging spot EVER.


Although I did catch two blokes having it doggy style in a bush there once and they gave chase and threw rocks at me.......!?

large portion without caution, niiiicce!!!

 

[Bevendean Hillbilly]

Not sure what it is, but could have been anti aircraft? These were dotted all over the place. The Germans would often drop off any excess bombs on their raids back to Germany / main land Europe.

Could it be similar to the ones over Shoreham Airport, which are all along the side of the river bank.

Also, some from earlier over Shoreham beach, at the old fort.

Definitely not a bunker like the usual ones dotted around the place. The ones at Shoreham are either air raid shelters which by necessity are predominantly underground, or type 28 pillboxes in case of airborne attack which again this is not as it has no loopholes,hexagon shape for fields of fire etc.. There are none of the usual things you'd expect like blast walls and irregular outline to break up its sillouette from the air and it is VERY exposed for a defensive position. This thing is basically a rectangle stuck on the top of the downs. Not somewhere I would want to be during an air raid.

Like I said earlier it doesnt look like it was built in WW2 because brickwork looks earlier than that, more early 1900s but it has definitely been strafed with large automatic weapons at some point, probably from the air and also probably during WW2.

 

[Herm]

Its one of my favourite places devils dyke and yet I still don't understand what it is. I ran around inside as a Kid thinking it was a big castle. But to be honest, why would a gun be facing in that direction, its quite bizarre.

 

[Arthritic Toe]

Its just a WW2 pillbox isn't it? Lots of them around, especially on hilltops as defenses against the german invasion that never came. When I used to be into hang gliding, this one was a useful visual marker for your top-landing approach at the Dyke.