Explored with @cattos mc budget
I have a real soft spot for this culvert as this was my first proper culvert explore back when I was 13 in 2023, since then I've visited many times with various people. I also used to splash about in the watercourse further downstream years ago when I was a toddler during visits / holidays in Bournemouth. I'm glad that I started with this culvert as it's quite an easy one and it has some good features for a relatively short explore.
This culvert carries the Kinson Brook for roughly 800m, although only 300 - 400m is traversable as it reduces into a shrunken state. The culvert frequently varies in age and construction type but unfortunately some sections don't look like they are going to last much longer before they are replaced with boring modern concrete. Height alternates constantly from stooping to standing, none of which last long before changing. This is quite a historical culvert with many links to the old gas and water works which used to be situated above, but historical information online is scarce and a lot of the original features are gone and have been replaced by concrete.
Me, my mum and sister set off early meeting @cattos mc budget at the bus stop, from there we got to the station and travelled on the train for about an hour and a half. My mum and sister were going elsewhere so they stayed on the train while we got off at Branksome. After a short walk we got to the entrance and sneakily made our way in! We always try to visit on Sundays as the nearby businesses and retail outlets are closed so entry is easy, I have visited on other days before when the nearby carpark is packed with people all around but no one seems to ever bat an eyelid. Better safe than sorry though eh!
After climbing through a barbed wire fence and going down a steep embankment we arrived at the culvert, the first thing that hits you is the strong smell of sulphur and the sound of roaring water. Once down the sketchy ladder you are given the option of two tunnels, the right arch going a short distance under a railway line before emerging into the Coy Pond Gardens, or the left tunnel which is the main explore. At the top of the steps on the left wall was a tunnel, albeit sealed shut. This could've possibly been some kind of outfall for the old Bournemouth Gas & Water Works at some point?
Immediately upon entry you are greeted by a nice tall hallway with reinforcing buttresses overhead, I've never seen anything like this is in other culverts before! Also in this section under the water was an upturned manhole cover for some reason, maybe it fell in somewhere upstream and got stuck here where the water slows down?
Around a corner and the tunnel gives way to the beautiful original brick passage which runs underneath a road. It was very loud here and getting up that step was tricky due to the force of the water and it being quite slippery.
Here a very small unnamed watercourse joins the brook, this is by far my favourite section as it's just so picturesque! Unfortunately this section has a large amount of brickwork missing and towards the end shows the bare rock underneath, so it's only a matter of time before the whole lot goes.
After a short distance the brickwork abruptly switches to concrete piping at a manhole chamber, @cattos mc budget lighting the way ahead.
It carries on in concrete piping for a while...
After another manhole chamber the pipe shrunk a little to a stoop. This section had water droplets on the roof which we occasionally would brush up against and it would send a rush of freezing cold water down our backs!
After a little while the pipe bent to the right and it changed to a much older section of shuttered concrete, this time a kind of upside down pear shape.
This section had a lot of water ingress and the water was just above ankle deep. There were some potholes in the floor, nothing major but they are enough to trip you up if you're not paying attention.
Soon it changes to a concrete arched tunnel at a capped shaft. When I first visited none of them roots were there, on my last visit in April 2024 there were only some but it's probably tripled in size since. Proves how quick these things appear!
Now this section was a bit scary as multiple jets of water were bursting through the walls here, none of which were there before. At one point there was a massive crack going up both walls and meeting on the roof which also wasn't there last time. Interestingly in this section are multiple very old newspapers on the walls, these were probably on the wood they used to shutter the concrete into place, which stained into the concrete once it set.
Here's some iPhone pics of the newspapers on the walls, it was difficult to read them as they were flipped and upside down but on one of them we spotted a date of 1938?
Eventually we reached the "end", this is where multiple smaller pipes converge into the main culvert. Some are big enough to crawl up but the majority of them have large cracks and fractures on the roof which deterred us from going any further.
This is where the Withy Bed Bottom Brook joins the Kinson Brook, the culvert for it is about 4ft and is do-able but we were short for time so we gave it a miss. I went up that slide a short distance to put a torch up there for backlighting but the speed of the water was so powerful it made it impossible, I got a right soaking during the process though lol!
This is the limit for the main culvert, the right tunnel carries on roughly 500m to the in-fall which is located on a pond in Alder Hills Nature Reserve. The Kinson Brook upstream from that becomes much smaller and is culverted again, before reaching its source in Bourne Valley Park. I think the left tunnel used to be for the Withy Bed Bottom Brook, but has since become redundant and it was diverted into the other tunnel just a tad bit further downstream.
This is looking up the left tunnel, it appears to have some metal bracing inside possibly for extra strength?
We spent a good 5 hours down there taking pictures and talking. Once we left, we met up with my mum and sister who were waiting for us outside. Funnily enough they just got there at the same moment we got out the culvert! Afterwards we went to a place called The Godfather for a nice pizza. Although it has lots of bad reviews online, it had probably the best chicken nuggets I've ever had. Just thinking about it is making my mouth water again lol. Our train was delayed but eventually we got home, luckily without any crackhead incidents as it was really late.
I'm not sure why as it's not really a stoopy culvert, but every time I've done it my legs cramp like mad on the walk back to the station. I guess it's all uphill on the walk back but the cramps were the worst I've ever had from any drain before this time, so bad I skipped school the next day which is always a win.
It was nice coming back here, especially to show @cattos mc budget around as this was his first visit and to play around with new lighting techniques.
Thanks for reading.
I have a real soft spot for this culvert as this was my first proper culvert explore back when I was 13 in 2023, since then I've visited many times with various people. I also used to splash about in the watercourse further downstream years ago when I was a toddler during visits / holidays in Bournemouth. I'm glad that I started with this culvert as it's quite an easy one and it has some good features for a relatively short explore.
This culvert carries the Kinson Brook for roughly 800m, although only 300 - 400m is traversable as it reduces into a shrunken state. The culvert frequently varies in age and construction type but unfortunately some sections don't look like they are going to last much longer before they are replaced with boring modern concrete. Height alternates constantly from stooping to standing, none of which last long before changing. This is quite a historical culvert with many links to the old gas and water works which used to be situated above, but historical information online is scarce and a lot of the original features are gone and have been replaced by concrete.
Me, my mum and sister set off early meeting @cattos mc budget at the bus stop, from there we got to the station and travelled on the train for about an hour and a half. My mum and sister were going elsewhere so they stayed on the train while we got off at Branksome. After a short walk we got to the entrance and sneakily made our way in! We always try to visit on Sundays as the nearby businesses and retail outlets are closed so entry is easy, I have visited on other days before when the nearby carpark is packed with people all around but no one seems to ever bat an eyelid. Better safe than sorry though eh!
After climbing through a barbed wire fence and going down a steep embankment we arrived at the culvert, the first thing that hits you is the strong smell of sulphur and the sound of roaring water. Once down the sketchy ladder you are given the option of two tunnels, the right arch going a short distance under a railway line before emerging into the Coy Pond Gardens, or the left tunnel which is the main explore. At the top of the steps on the left wall was a tunnel, albeit sealed shut. This could've possibly been some kind of outfall for the old Bournemouth Gas & Water Works at some point?
Immediately upon entry you are greeted by a nice tall hallway with reinforcing buttresses overhead, I've never seen anything like this is in other culverts before! Also in this section under the water was an upturned manhole cover for some reason, maybe it fell in somewhere upstream and got stuck here where the water slows down?
Around a corner and the tunnel gives way to the beautiful original brick passage which runs underneath a road. It was very loud here and getting up that step was tricky due to the force of the water and it being quite slippery.
Here a very small unnamed watercourse joins the brook, this is by far my favourite section as it's just so picturesque! Unfortunately this section has a large amount of brickwork missing and towards the end shows the bare rock underneath, so it's only a matter of time before the whole lot goes.
After a short distance the brickwork abruptly switches to concrete piping at a manhole chamber, @cattos mc budget lighting the way ahead.
It carries on in concrete piping for a while...
After another manhole chamber the pipe shrunk a little to a stoop. This section had water droplets on the roof which we occasionally would brush up against and it would send a rush of freezing cold water down our backs!
After a little while the pipe bent to the right and it changed to a much older section of shuttered concrete, this time a kind of upside down pear shape.
This section had a lot of water ingress and the water was just above ankle deep. There were some potholes in the floor, nothing major but they are enough to trip you up if you're not paying attention.
Soon it changes to a concrete arched tunnel at a capped shaft. When I first visited none of them roots were there, on my last visit in April 2024 there were only some but it's probably tripled in size since. Proves how quick these things appear!
Now this section was a bit scary as multiple jets of water were bursting through the walls here, none of which were there before. At one point there was a massive crack going up both walls and meeting on the roof which also wasn't there last time. Interestingly in this section are multiple very old newspapers on the walls, these were probably on the wood they used to shutter the concrete into place, which stained into the concrete once it set.
Here's some iPhone pics of the newspapers on the walls, it was difficult to read them as they were flipped and upside down but on one of them we spotted a date of 1938?
Eventually we reached the "end", this is where multiple smaller pipes converge into the main culvert. Some are big enough to crawl up but the majority of them have large cracks and fractures on the roof which deterred us from going any further.
This is where the Withy Bed Bottom Brook joins the Kinson Brook, the culvert for it is about 4ft and is do-able but we were short for time so we gave it a miss. I went up that slide a short distance to put a torch up there for backlighting but the speed of the water was so powerful it made it impossible, I got a right soaking during the process though lol!
This is the limit for the main culvert, the right tunnel carries on roughly 500m to the in-fall which is located on a pond in Alder Hills Nature Reserve. The Kinson Brook upstream from that becomes much smaller and is culverted again, before reaching its source in Bourne Valley Park. I think the left tunnel used to be for the Withy Bed Bottom Brook, but has since become redundant and it was diverted into the other tunnel just a tad bit further downstream.
This is looking up the left tunnel, it appears to have some metal bracing inside possibly for extra strength?
We spent a good 5 hours down there taking pictures and talking. Once we left, we met up with my mum and sister who were waiting for us outside. Funnily enough they just got there at the same moment we got out the culvert! Afterwards we went to a place called The Godfather for a nice pizza. Although it has lots of bad reviews online, it had probably the best chicken nuggets I've ever had. Just thinking about it is making my mouth water again lol. Our train was delayed but eventually we got home, luckily without any crackhead incidents as it was really late.
I'm not sure why as it's not really a stoopy culvert, but every time I've done it my legs cramp like mad on the walk back to the station. I guess it's all uphill on the walk back but the cramps were the worst I've ever had from any drain before this time, so bad I skipped school the next day which is always a win.
It was nice coming back here, especially to show @cattos mc budget around as this was his first visit and to play around with new lighting techniques.
Thanks for reading.
