A World War Two plotting room hidden under the White Cliffs of Dover has opened to visitors for the first time.

Built in 1940, the Fan Bay Plotting Room was a war operation centre which helped direct guns defending the Strait of Dover as Britain's front line following the fall of France.

It was abandoned after the war and buried under soil in the 1970s, until it was unearthed in 2017 and became the focus of National Trust research and conservation.

The room opened to the public on Friday and has been conserved in such a way that it is "much as we found it", the National Trust said.

The Fan Bay Plotting Room was home to some of the most advanced military technology of its time, including the fire direction table, which calculated firing data and co-ordinated artillery operations.

It was used as part of a national plan to strengthen Britain's coastal defences, with Dover becoming known as part of the Hellfire Corner as it endured shelling attacks from occupied France just 21 miles (33km) away.

Jon Barker, from the National Trust, said: "There's something very special about standing in a place that has changed so little since the people who worked here left.

"Rather than recreate the past, we've carefully conserved the plotting room so visitors can experience it much as we found it, with all the marks of its history still visible.

"It's a rare opportunity to discover a completely different side of the white cliffs, and a fitting tribute to everyone who has helped bring this remarkable place back into public view."

The underground space includes peeling paint, wartime graffiti, pipes and ducts.

Alongside preserving the physical site, volunteers have unearthed the personal stories of those who served at Fan Bay, which volunteer Gordon Wise said had "changed how I see the room".

The White Cliffs of Dover volunteer said: "A name in a service record, or a detail in a photograph, helps connect the surviving marks on the walls with someone's working day.

"There are still questions to answer, but each discovery helps us build a clearer picture of the people behind the machinery."

Tours of the plotting room must be booked in advance through the National Trust.

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