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Report (Permission Visit) - Tunnels in Surrey. August 2016: Late Night visit unsupervised . | Underground Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report (Permission Visit) Tunnels in Surrey. August 2016: Late Night visit unsupervised .

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Calamity Jane

i see beauty in the unloved, places & things
Regular User
Photo heavy as this place was huge. I also had the privilege of going to a non public cave system under the castle grounds, with carvings dating back 100s of years. So first photos are of the big tunnel system and private bits there. Then next photos are the amazing cravings I had the opportunity to see.

Tunnels were built in 1823 and are now the oldest tunnels in Britain and one of the oldest in Europe. The caves found west of the tunnel were originally opened up as sand mines. The caves on the east side were dug specifically for storing wines and beers.

This sand mine probably stopped by the 1860s after a large area of it fell in. There is a sunken garden between the Town Hall and the Castle Grounds which is the site of a massive collapse in the mine in 1858. The Town Hall and Castle are partly above these caves.

From 1916, during the First World War, the tunnels were used to store high explosives in advance of major offences on the Western Front. During the Second World War they were used as public air raid shelters, where a community of residents slept regularly for many months.

The caves have recently found new previously buried new cave system that extended to the bars and high street. Public have no access to these areas.

However on my visit/explore which was a friends favour, I had access to these, and saw what only the workers had seen before.

These tunnels are linked to tunnels in the castle grounds and have signs in them of being used by the Knights Templar.


Enough of the report and onto some shots.

Outside embeded in the wall

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Undiscovered bottle stores til 2016

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Newly uncovered

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Also newly discovered, no public had ever seen these areas

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Newly dug out new tunnel

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All found whilst digging new cave out

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Memorabilia

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Another area just dug out

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A few from the cave system deep under castle grounds.

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The W I was told is a mark used by a witches coven, that apparently once held their circle here!

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Well hope you enjoy the report, I enjoyed the explore





 

Calamity Jane

i see beauty in the unloved, places & things
Regular User
Hmm. Interesting report :thumb


Yep I think the big tunnels may be 1823 as the site says, but the underground tunnels beneath castle are a lot older. 1500s at least but so little is known about them, I think historians find them hard to date. There are many preserved carvings with dates and most before 1823!!
 

DaveFM

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Thanks, I'm in Scotland these days and rarely down south but I used to search for the stone mines in Surrey when I lived in Kent.
 
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