Vale Mill developers shocked by scale of Nazi WW2 bunker

The bunker at Vale Mill was much larger than the developers expected it to be

The size of a bunker which was created under a mill by the Nazis in the World War Two occupation of Guernsey has left a team of developers bewildered.

Concrete walls, some 9ft (2.7m) thick, and a 6ft (1.8m) ceiling have been uncovered in the basement of Vale Mill.

Wheeler Developments' James Ridout said while they knew about the structure before starting work, it was surprising to find "a proper bunker".

"We were just completely unaware of the scale," he said.

The original structure of Vale Mill was built in 1770 out of wood, before the structure was rebuilt in granite 84 years later.

It operated as a flour windmill until the occupation in 1940, when its northerly position saw it used as an observation tower to keep watch over the sea.

The occupying forces built three extra storeys on it using reinforced concrete, which the States of Guernsey began removing after the war.

The cost of that process meant it was never completed and two of the Occupation-era floors remain.

Mr Rideout said the mill was "a unique thing to work on"

Mr Ridout said the work in the mill had uncovered the documented bunker, but it unexpectedly was found to have thick concrete walls and ceiling, along with a floor of concrete about 3ft (0.9m) deep.

"We knew that the basement was here, we were just completely unaware of the scale and sheer amount of concrete that had been put into it to turn it into, what effectively, is a proper bunker," he said.

He said the mill was "a unique thing to work on".

"There aren't many mills like this around the island or iconic buildings like this," he added.