General - Dudley underground buildings under castle hill

[loxxxton]

hi all i'm new to the site i've just got a question for you are used to be a zookeeper dudley zoo in the early eighty's and i'm aware that there is a entrance located in dudley zoo by the chairlift that leads to an underground cavern filled with what look like concrete buildings i'm just wondering if anyone knows what these are i cannot find anything on the Internet about this. Me and a friend got in there and had a look around so i know it exists and the large steel entrance doors are still visible in the zoo grounds. The buildings were all concrete and had doorways and windows. I have always wondered what this was. If anyone knows......

 

[Oxygen Thief]

Third result on google for "under dudley castle hill"...

http://www.dudleytunnel.co.uk/mines.html

 

[loxxxton]

Ive seen that one. I must clarify... In my miss spent youth i have used a dingy to explore most of the canal tunnels and have also been into the limestone workings under wrens nest nature reserve. The cavern im talking about is not connected to the underground tunnels in the map. The entrance was located in Dudley zoo itself behind huge lockef steel doors. A long tunnel led into a clearly manmade cavern which contained numerous concrete buildings/workshops. They looked to date from the second world war era if memory serves me correctly. There were no other tunnels or passageways i could see and it was certainly not part of the canal system! Just a huge cavern filled with buildings.

 

[Els]

4th para down below pic

http://www.dudleyzoo.org.uk/news/september-9-1939

 

[Oxygen Thief]

A cavern beneath the site was used to store military clothing, and at one stage, was used as a shadow factory for ammunition.

Nice find, definitely worthy of a look.

 

[loxxxton]

Id love to go back but its hard because you have to get in the zoo first then the doors.... Hard one i think. If anyone has any ideas id be realy interested

 

[Oxygen Thief]

I can only find one other reference, and that's in Secret Underground Cities by Nick McCamley

These initial proposals included: ...A scheme put forward by the Birmingham Small Arms Company to convert 12,000 square feet of the abandoned limestone workings below Dudley Zoo into a safe refuge for it's Browning gun barrel production line.

I always thought BSA stood for British Small Arms, you learn something every day.

 

[loxxxton]

I remember it being a big place alright!!

 

[Oxygen Thief]

Id love to go back but its hard because you have to get in the zoo first then the doors.... Hard one i think. If anyone has any ideas id be realy interested

First thing is to highlight the exact area on a map. Personally, I'd take a day out at the zoo, and take pictures of everything relevant.

 

[Speed]

Theres a chapter in Secret Underground Cities on this isnt there? Keep meaning to spend some more time over there poking about. If you could pin point the door on a map it would be a start.

 

[loxxxton]

Ill have a go but any map of the zoo shows the chair lift. Tbe door is in plain sight in a dip to the right as you stand at the bottom looking up.

 

[Oxygen Thief]

I can only find one other reference, and that's in Secret Underground Cities by Nick McCamley



I always thought BSA stood for British Small Arms, you learn something every day.

Theres a chapter in Secret Underground Cities on this isnt there? Keep meaning to spend some more time over there poking about. If you could pin point the door on a map it would be a start.

See above, that's all I could find. Or more to the point, that's all there was in the index under 'Dudley'.

 

[Speed]

Il get my copy out and have a look. I think i can just about see this door on bing... maybe

 

[loxxxton]

Ive just had a look on google earth... Its changed a bit in twenty odd years but if you look at the main entrance to the zoo and look for the white hoarding with animals on it im sure the door is around there somewhere. Id love to have another look if anyone finds a way in

 

[Adders]

Bubblehead and I discussed this once, years back. Never got around to doing anything about it other than looking over the fence from the cinema next door.