History
In Reigate there are a number of caves dug into the hill, they are sand mines that date back to circa 1820 and were used up to circa 1900. The sand had two purposes, for glass manufacture and for scrubbing. When the mining ceased the caves were used for a variety of uses. Cordite from Woolwich Arsenal was stored their during WW1, wine merchants stored wine and disposed of empties there, during WW2 it was used as a shelter for locals and people travelling down from London and the one of the caves are used by a local shooting team today.
This particular set was used by the school during WW2 as a shelter and is now sealed off from the other tunnels.
The Explore
Visited with @Porker of the night and @obscurity . We parked up, gathered all the gear and set off across the town to the site.
What a beauty she is! The style and shaping of the passages are so different of other mines I have explored. It also runs over two levels which makes for a good shot standing in the connecting passage, you really get a perspective of how high the ceiling is in some parts.
After getting our shots we headed back up to the surface and made our way back to the cars, little did we know there was going to be a police car driving past as we had just hopped over the wall and crossed the road, got some funny looks from them
On to the pictures,
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Cheers for having a ganders
In Reigate there are a number of caves dug into the hill, they are sand mines that date back to circa 1820 and were used up to circa 1900. The sand had two purposes, for glass manufacture and for scrubbing. When the mining ceased the caves were used for a variety of uses. Cordite from Woolwich Arsenal was stored their during WW1, wine merchants stored wine and disposed of empties there, during WW2 it was used as a shelter for locals and people travelling down from London and the one of the caves are used by a local shooting team today.
This particular set was used by the school during WW2 as a shelter and is now sealed off from the other tunnels.
The Explore
Visited with @Porker of the night and @obscurity . We parked up, gathered all the gear and set off across the town to the site.
What a beauty she is! The style and shaping of the passages are so different of other mines I have explored. It also runs over two levels which makes for a good shot standing in the connecting passage, you really get a perspective of how high the ceiling is in some parts.
After getting our shots we headed back up to the surface and made our way back to the cars, little did we know there was going to be a police car driving past as we had just hopped over the wall and crossed the road, got some funny looks from them
On to the pictures,
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
Cheers for having a ganders
