East Kent Times, 9th March 1962.

WORKMEN UNCOVER A TUNNEL SMUGGLERS MAY HAVE USED.

During demolition of the Truro Court Hotel, East Cliff, Ramsgate, three men working on the site uncovered an old tunnel which, they believe, goes down to the cliff face.

David Ralph, Allan Bellis and Frank Bovington took an East Kent Times and Broadstairs Mail reporter into the tunnel, which descends at an acute angle to about 60ft below the surface of Ramsgate. Their journey ended in a room roughly hewn in the chalk. Below that was barbed wire and a brick wall.

Mr. Bellis said he believes the tunnel was used as an air raid shelter by the RAF when they occupied the hotel in World War II. Before that it could have been a smugglers’ entrance from the sea.

Although he has made several inquiries, Mr. Bellis can find no-one who knows anything about the tunnels.