We were expecting to find a cave interior with some kind of Stone Age (or earlier) history – but to our astonishment – we found something far more interesting and spiritually fulfilling! Although Chislehurst is in the Greater London Borough of Bromley (formerly Kent) – and is only an hour away from Sutton by car – it took an American tourist mentioning Chislehurst Caves on social media for us to take notice. My mother’s family (surnamed ‘Gibson’) were bombed out of their East London (Lewisham) home on September 7th, 1940 by the Nazi German Luftwaffe! My family was lucky as tens of thousands of other British people lost their lives! As my family had a nephew already living in the Oxfordshire village of Forest Hill – the ten members that comprised this clan were evacuated to live in that area! This explains why my mother was born in Oxford – and why I was eventually born in Oxford!
We learned a very important and historical lesson by visiting the Chislehurst Caves. As tens of thousands of working-class people lived in East London had nowhere to go – many walked, cycled, caught buses and boarded trains and headed to Chislehurst en masse – where they knew that there was a massive cave system that would give them protection from the bombs of Nazi Germany! The owner of the caves was Mr James Gardner – who had been born in China – the son of a Bank Manager working for Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank. Although he had been using the caves to grow mushrooms – he agreed to allow the general public to live in the tunnels on a semi-permanent bases for the duration of the conflict. Toilets, beds, shops, Post Offices and even a Church was installed – with the population living in the 22-miles of tunnels rising to 15,000 at its peak! In 1945 – when the war was over – about 5,000 people remained in the caves whilst the incumbent Labour Party built thousands of Council houses and flats. This process of construction and re-housing took two-years – and by 1947 the Chislehurst caves were once again ‘silent’!
As something of a hobby that its becoming ever more prominent and important as I get older – I have penned an article about the local Home Guard Unit (the 54th Kent Battalion) which operated in the area – that will be published shortly on a dedicated historical website. This Home Guard Unit had the unexpected duty of ‘Policing’ the exterior of the caves and ensuring that law and order was maintained by the thousands of evacuees who turned-up. There was also the issue of ensuring that there was no trouble between the locals and the newly arrived – as Britain is rife with regional conflicts! A positive gained from this influx meant that there was plenty of men and women available to join and assist the Home Guard – making this area one of the best manned of the Civil Defence Authorities! Remember – the Home Guard was premised upon Socialist principles!
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 