'Tunnel Town': a Spatial History of the Ramsgate Tunnels during the Second World War

This dissertation is an examination of the civilian experience of sheltering on the Home Front during the Second World War using as a case study the Ramsgate Tunnels. The cultural memory of sheltering on the Home Front has been overwhelmingly shaped by the Blitz and therefore has been resoundingly London-centric. Adopting a micro-history of a coastal town permits for greater complexity in the history of the lived experience on the Home Front. Those who sheltered in the Ramsgate Tunnels were historically defined by their seaside topography and pleasure-seeking economy, which was transformed and challenged by the arrival of total war and a new subterranean reality. This dichotomy of identity was symbolised by the creation of 'Tunnel Town' in the Ramsgate Tunnels, which reflected larger universal wartime discourses surrounding the home, spaces of protection, hygiene, privacy, and comfort. To address the paucity of primary material concerning the Ramsgate Tunnels this dissertation uses a spatial analytical framework alongside photographic evidence, material culture and oral history to engage with larger themes of privacy, ownership, identity, and home on the Home Front. While focusing on the specific nuances of the Ramsgate Tunnels this dissertation makes connections to a broad range of themes; the role of the seaside, the juxtaposition between seascapes and the subterranean, medical discourses on sunlight and health, the material culture of the Home Front, the memory of war (and civil war), tourism, and the relationship between seaside towns and wartime urbanism.