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Underground (Miscellaneous: Tunnels, Roads, Bunkers Etc.)

Re: Tunnels under Bath

Epona said:
Bath
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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

*slam*
 
Bump! Bath now added to all the other tunnel-y places.
 
Thank you Rynner. All those pages just go to show how fascinated people are with the idea of mysterious goings-on under the ground. Sounds like it's one of those archetypal themes that recurs throughout people's mythologies and stories throughout history - the underworld I suppose.
 
I can't remember if I've posted this before, but I'll post it anyway.
Ascot, Berkshire - for years, there has been a rumour that just won't go away, despite the local council's attempts (they had an open day).
On a major road that runs through Ascot, there is a rubbish dump which has unusually high security (huge fences, gates, barbed wire, cameras). For a long time, there was a 24-hour guard. No rubbish is ever observed to go *in* through the gates, but for a long time when it was first established, only dirt was seen to come *out*.

The rumour is that it is a huge high security bunker, built for the bigwigs who visit Ascot during race week. In the event of war, they can dash to the shelter, where they can run the country.
That's the theory, anyway.

I stress that it's just a rumour, but it won't go away.
 
Mythopoeika said:
I can't remember if I've posted this before, but I'll post it anyway.
Ascot, Berkshire - for years, there has been a rumour that just won't go away, despite the local council's attempts (they had an open day).
On a major road that runs through Ascot, there is a rubbish dump which has unusually high security (huge fences, gates, barbed wire, cameras). For a long time, there was a 24-hour guard. No rubbish is ever observed to go *in* through the gates, but for a long time when it was first established, only dirt was seen to come *out*.

The rumour is that it is a huge high security bunker, built for the bigwigs who visit Ascot during race week. In the event of war, they can dash to the shelter, where they can run the country.
That's the theory, anyway.

I stress that it's just a rumour, but it won't go away.
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Your last paragraph sounds like an RSG (Regional Seat of Government) like the "Secret Nuclear Bunker" at Kelvedon Hatch in Essex. These were built somewhat away from areas of habitation.

The only thing I can find referenced in Ascot from the Cold War is a Royal Observer Corps (ROC) bunker, which are tiny things ("small reinforced concrete boxes the size of a caravan"), once manned for measuring nuclear blast size and direction.

Can you give us more information like the street name; or better, a link to uk.multimap.com or http://www.streetmap.co.uk?
 
Regarding the Portsmouth tunnels, I live beneath Portsdown Hill and apart from the catabombs and bunkers cut into the chalk downs, above on the actuall hill all kinds of weird experiments go on. Lights at night, strange noises etc.
I work on an MOD site across the creek from Portsmouth. If you work late, sometimes one can see Batman-like searchlights swaying across the Solent from the hill.
Strangest of all, a rumour abounds in the area that the roof lichen on houses beneath the bunkers have dangerously high levels of radiation.:eek!!!!:
 
Does anyone know if there is a direct UL influence or inspiration behind Tom Waits' rather excellent song 'Underground' (which is about mysterious people who live in tunnels beneath the feet of us everyday folk) or whether it stemmed directly from Mr Waits' energetic imagination?
 
Hayzee Comet said:
Sorry! I met catacombs, not catabombs.:rolleyes:
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Mod Comment: Use the EDIT button under your post if you spot a typo. (If you do this quickly enough, you don't even get a "Last Edited by..." postscript. :) )
 
Jobbo said:
Your last paragraph sounds like an RSG (Regional Seat of Government) like the "Secret Nuclear Bunker" at Kelvedon Hatch in Essex. These were built somewhat away from areas of habitation.

The only thing I can find referenced in Ascot from the Cold War is a Royal Observer Corps (ROC) bunker, which are tiny things ("small reinforced concrete boxes the size of a caravan"), once manned for measuring nuclear blast size and direction.

Can you give us more information like the street name; or better, a link to uk.multimap.com or http://www.streetmap.co.uk?
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Yes, I know where that old bunker is - it's now closed, and only held 2 people. Sadly, the bit that sticks up is now covered in graffiti.
The new one is much bigger (judging by the amount of dirt that came out!).
It's actually down the road from that (in London Road), next door to a farm.
 
Catapulted

You'd use a catacomb to brush the debris from your beard and hair after the catabomb goes off.

Of course, a catabomb is a bit stickier than ordinary combs can handle, it being a cat locked in a car with a box of Ex-Lax.
 
Manchester under ground (ex) gold bullion bunker

The earlier references in this thread to under ground goings on in Manchester reminded me abou the company I used to work for: Nextra UK (now know as Telenor Busiess Solutions).

Back in 2000/2001 timeframe they bought another company called XTML, a Manchester based ISP. XTML (and now Nextra/TBS) own an ex Bank of England subterranean gold bullion vault in Manchester which is now used by the company as a server colocation centre.

I visited it a couple of times as an employee of the company. There are subterranean counting room and offices, as well as a massively secure vault with blast proof walls (which is where the servers are now kept).

The only entrances in use now are from the street and a street-level loading bay. I don't recall if there were any other ways in or out under ground (I don't think so).

It's a very impressive place, if a little in need of redecoration when I was last there. The customers certainly liked it being shown around it.
 
Prices rocket for nuclear bunkers

The bunker in Hawkshead has spectacular views from above
A disused nuclear bunker in Cumbria has sold for £25,100 on an online auction site.

The bunker, at Flookburgh, in the Lake District, was one of three in Northumberland and Cumbria being sold on the internet site eBay.

At 1630 BST on Sunday, a bunker at Hawkshead, also in the Lake District, had 41 bids, the highest of which was for £13,100.

And a bunker at Stannington, Northumberland attracted 31 bids, the highest of which was £5,600.

Cold war

The auctions were due to end at 1730 BST and 2000 BST on Sunday respectively.

Each bunkers was designed to house a three-man monitoring team 15 feet underground.

The sites, which have no gas, electricity or water, are being tipped as the latest must-have investment opportunity.

Chartered surveyors JH Walter are handling the sale of the bunkers, which started on 22 May.

The bunkers, decommissioned at the end of the Cold War, are all set in land 15 yards by 20 yards, with a ventilator shaft and an access shaft leading to two rooms - one housing beds, desks and equipment, and the other a toilet.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2953954.stm
 
Largest prehistoric man-made cavern...

I bet this place could tell us some tales!:D

The largest prehistoric man-made cavern in the world may be hidden under a north Wales peninsula.
The cavern is part of a Bronze Age copper mine complex which was first uncovered in 1987 at Great Orme's Head near Llandudno.

Archaeologists excavating the 4,000-year-old site made their latest discovery 130ft below ground in December and have estimated it is at least 50ft in length...

Surveys indicate there are about 10 miles of tunnels in the area.
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Full story;-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/wales/north_west/2973877.stm
 
Going Undergroung

I have always been a big fan of underground places, the more secret the better. it started many years ago whilst i was at university in Aberystwyth, Wales.
a friend of mine who worked at the main theatre at Aberystwyth Arts centre told me about the passages and rooms underneath the theatre that led to the National library of wales which is situated near by, also it led to other parts of the town which is situated further down a steep hill. the theatre and art centre buildings were I think 1960's creations, the the National library much older. Coincidently Prince charles studies Welsh at Aberystwyth and lived in the Welsh halls of residence which are right next door to the national library.

in Bury, lancashire opposite the town hall there is a funny area known as pyramid Park. It has three large pyramids in it that are covered with grass. they do look very perculiar. i have often wondered what is housed beneath them??? :-/

However I do know that there is a massive underground network in manchester. The main part being under picadilly gardens (very recebtly refurbished with plenty of new hiding places for vents ((gee dont you just love concrete buildings that serve no purposes and have no entrances?? unless they are high up on the roof???)). the entrance to this network is in the city centre in on the outskirts of china town. it is a really odd building that doesn't fit in to its surroundings 9the building is like a small barbed wire surrounded compound with two entrances, oppsite each other. in the middle is what looks like a fire station tower. until about July it looked as if nothing had happened there, then there was a sign placed on the door that said : for access contact AMEC on blah blah blah blah) there is a new carpark for a hotel on one side of it, and a building under refurbishment on the other. it is flanked by two relativly new office blocks. You can easily reach it if you walk up a side street by the odeon cinema.

Also I used to work at granada television and there was an old tunnel underneath that led to the G-Mex centre and further afield. it had been the basis of an underground (possibly previous above ground?) canal route. it was used in the second world war as a shelter.

There is a large tunnel entrance under Victoria train station that has some strange signs on the fencing gates. You can get to it from walking out the station entrance at the exit that faces the hairdressers, head down the flight of steps that run by the hairdressers, you are no behind chethams school of music and the entrance is to your right at the bottom of the stairs.

There must be hundreds of places down below, I guess it is somewhere that you can build without too many people noticing you are constructing anything. makes me wonder if there is some special kind of work going on below Manchester as we currently reside in this time of High Alert.
 
bulldog said:
St Mary's Church on the green in Norton (Teesside) is a norman church which has tunnels running under the road to a house on the other side called "The Hermitage".
The house is now privately owned so i don't know if there is still access but it's a well known local story.

There are also supposed to be four wooden mice carved into the lychgate. Three are obvious to see but apparently if you find the fourth it brings bad luck.
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How Bizzare, I read through an old thread and find a little bit about a church 10 minutes away from my house......infact an old g/f lives over the road from it.

Never heard the sotires of a tunnel myself but the one about the Mice is true but if slightly wrong. There are apparently 3 mice in the church grounds, two obvious but the third not....finding all three brings wealth. To date I've only ever found two. :)
 
I found a man who dug!!!!!!


"I should, perhaps, refer here to a story which is believed in the neighbourhood, that there are still existing remains of subterranean passages from the Abbey into the town of Hales Owen. I failed to discover any traces of it, although several persons assured me that friends of theirs had actually been along the passage for a considerable distance. A similar local belief is entertained with respect to many monastic ruins - at Buildwas and at Hayles, for example - but it is invarible found that the passage, if existing at all, is nothing more than a sewer."

On Hales Owen Abbey
(Birmingham & Midland Institute Transactions, 1871)
Mr JR Holliday


The Abbey refered to is Halesowen Abbey and its ruins can be found on the green fringe of Englands Black Country. It was founded in 1215 by the Bishop of Winchester, Peter des Roches and existed until 1538 and the dissolution by Henry VIII.
 
Art

Memory's an artform, is why people swear to things that can't have been.
 
Re: Art

FraterLibre said:
Memory's an artform, is why people swear to things that can't have been.
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How poetic. Sounds like a lyric.
 
No Lyric

Just a phrasing of mine, not even doggerel.

People claim to have walked secret tunnels that later cannot be found and in fact aren't there. Why? Because memory is not a factual record but rather an artform. We create it. We edit and reshape it. We make it what we need or want it to be, over time. Memory is our identity, so as we strenthen our identities by living we naturally begin rearranging memory the better to fit who we see ourselves as being.

Everyone remembers seeing the Thunderbird picture, but it simply doesn't seem ever to have existed. Why? They're remembering having heard about it, and maybe remembering what they pictured in their heads. Same applies to many accounts of Underground structures.
 
Re: No Lyric

FraterLibre said:
People claim to have walked secret tunnels that later cannot be found and in fact aren't there. Why? Because memory is not a factual record but rather an artform. We create it. We edit and reshape it. We make it what we need or want it to be, over time. Memory is our identity, so as we strenthen our identities by living we naturally begin rearranging memory the better to fit who we see ourselves as being.
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That's a pretty persuasive idea. It dovetails nicely with a favourite literary theory that ties life and writing together. The claim is that whilst living our day to day lives we are conducting 'biograhical work'. That to say we act, speak, and think (and perhaps remember) in such a way so as to support those 'readings' of ourselves that others may make that we do like, whilst equally trying to discredit those that we don't like.
 
At Bothwell castle near Glasgow, been reading up a little of it and of Blantyre Priory which was situated across the river from it. Supposidly there was an underground tunnel that led from the Priory to the Castle under the river. Unfortunatley the Priory is rubble and we dont know the exact site of where it stood though I might have found it, certainly enough rubble there and in the right general area. I was were thinking of doing a little excavation if I can find the right area.

Anybody know where to find maps that would show it's exact location...i.e. pre 1850's map if possible.

a Link about it here:
http://mcpitz.com/blant/blantyre.html
 
GPR

Ground-penetrating Radar might be the best bet for finding a forgotten tunnel of this sort. There may well be one. Another method that might prove effective is simple deduction. Where would it most naturally be? Of course, we don't know what sort of obstructions they may have encountered underground to alter its route, but a tunnel generally follows as straight a course as possible between the two points it connects, to save work. If one's there it's probably at an intuitive place.

The tunnel at Burg Nanstein in Ramstein, Germany is still there, although no one's allowed in it any longer. It was an escape route from the castle during siege, and led to a cellar in a house in the village below. I believe parts of it either have collapsed or threaten to, but they show visitors to the castle the entrance and point out the general route it takes.
 
Re: No Lyric

Originally posted by FraterLibre


Everyone remembers seeing the Thunderbird picture, but it simply doesn't seem ever to have existed. Why? They're remembering having heard about it, and maybe remembering what they pictured in their heads. Same applies to many accounts of Underground structures.
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Whats this then?.........December 1997

FT 105
 
Crane

lol - that's two chubby natives* with a crane of some sort.

The Thunderbird picture to which many allude has old American Western dudes posing beside a thing they killed, which is sort of tacked or propped against a cabin wall.

______________

* the other fellow's slender, it seems.
 
It seems you're right, the picture doesn't exist, I find it quite amazing, I was positive I'd seen it in FT, but after searching there and many other places, I came to the conclusion that it was self delusion.
Article.
 
Non Picture

p. younger -- I agree, it is amazing, as I am among those sure he's seen it. And yet the evidence seems to indicate the contrary. Bizarre, n'est pas?

Reminds me of the sort of people who tell their toddlers over and over about how they went to Disneyworld and had a great time so that they grow up with "memories" of hugging Mickey and riding on the monorail, etc.

And let us not imagine what marked cards the Ministry of Truth is slipping into our memory deck, hm?
 
Underground Thunderbirds

Sorry, quite right. One forgets the vagaries of human conversation and is carried away by call-and-response.

In Indiana, Pennsylvania, there is a teaching hospital near the center of town. On its south-west side amidst parking lots, lawns, and wooded hills in a campus setting for the local Pennsylvania State University stands a tennis court. Beneath the tennis court is an advanced, classified medical research laboratory. It is one like that described as a Wildfire Lab in Michael Crichton's early novel The Andromeda Strain.

I know this because my sister-in-law worked as a nurse there. It is run, she claims, by the CDC, and is there among other reasons in order to study exotic diseases and mutations as they crop up. No word on whether there is a thermonuclear device under it, in case of leaks. One hopes not.

By the way, Indiana, PA is where Jimmy Stewart hailed from and the fictional town of Bedford Falls in the Frank Capra movie IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE is loosely based upon Indiana.
 
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