General - Dudley underground buildings under castle hill

[Ojay]

I hear the door is situated within the Lion enclosure

 

[dweeb]

It probably would have been easier before they restored the chair lift last year!

Did you ever see the cavern that was full of animal bones? According to legend if an animal died at the zoo it got tossed down a shaft and there was a pile of skeletons of the exotic kind at the bottom!

 

[GAJ]

Now that would be swag!!

 

[Enlightx]

I can confirm also this door does exist and it was indeed a large metal double round topped door at the back of the chair lifts. When you go in I rmeber walking down a large dark corridor which had rock on each side. At the end was a huge huge cavern with I rmeber dropped down but we weren't allowed any further.

I know this as approx 15 years ago dudley council used to offer a locked dudley zoo entrance day for people who workd at stores in the twin. My mother was invited he 3rd year we went they were offering underground tours which you lined up at the chair lifts . Afterwards we were asked to fill in a questionair asking if it we thought it would be a good attraction to open up to the public.

I would love to go back down and have another look being a young child at the time it's something that has always stuck int eh back of my mind

Do any photos exist?

 

[lock1999]

We used to visit that Place way back in the 70s, pretty straightforward in those days. Ring contact, sign indemnity form and go. Visits were after hours.

 

[Dragon's Lair]

It was built during WW2 as a shadow factory for BSA (DefinatelyBirmingham Small Arms O.T.). It was to be for the production of Browning machine guns. Unfortunately due to delays caused by problems with the rock and finacial issues, by the time it was ready it wasn't needed. The treat from enemy bombing was now minimal. BSA, who weren't keen on the idea in the first place, declined to move in. The M.A.P. strugled to find anyone who wnted it. Eventually it was used for stores (I think it was for the Navy) and was always known locally as 'The Stores Cavern'. I believe that there are 3 entrances within the Zoo but all are well secured. I have some photos of the entrances and a friend of mine has photos of the inside from the 1970's, but unfortunately I have so far been unable to prise them off him! I have been researching the site for a while now. There is very little info around. As someone mentioned it has a short section in one of Nick McCamleys books and is also briefly mentioned in 'Drakelow Unearthed'. There is also reference to it in a much earlier publication from the 1950's. I understand that it is in a very poor state now, parts have colapsed. It may be possible to get to it via other parts of the Dudley limestone caverns, but many of them have now been infilled.

 

[Speed]

Yeh, well the explorer dingys have been out and about so watch this space!

 

[dweeb]

The treat from enemy bombing

I assume you meant threat!!

 

[loxxxton]

I have a very vaugue memory of finding a promising looking passage that seemed to head towards the wrens nest caverns but didnt follow it due to it being very narrow and tight and very dim torch! I have used a dingy a bit around the water and am pretty sure no waterways go near the cave in question

 

[dweeb]

From what I can remember Wren's nest and Seven Sisters were filled with sand a few years ago, so that might have scuppered chances of getting into those networks.

I've heard conflicting stories about the canal tunnel having spurs off it that lead to mine workings. There must be someone out there who knows more than we seem to!

 

[Oxygen Thief]

What we need is a nighttime kayak trip, sometime over the holidays?

 

[Speed]

Got those dingys still stu? We had a go the other night.Some progress, some setbacks but fun!! I need a smaller boat!

 

[Dragon's Lair]

The treat from enemy bombing
I assume you meant threat!!

Well Dweeb, I guess that would depend on whether you liked aeroplanes and loud explosions!
Yes, ok it was a typo. Must remember not to do rushed replies from work in future.
I have chased up the 1970's photos. You never know.....

Dragon's Lair

 

[Ordnance]

From BSA Wiki:


The BSA factory at Small Heath was bombed by the Luftwaffe on 26 August 1940 resulting in one H.E.bomb and a shower of incendiaries hitting the main barrel mill which was the only one operating on service rifles in the country, causing the unaffordable loss of 750 machine tools but fortunately no loss of life. Two further air raids took place on 19 and 22 November 1940. The air raid of 19 November did the most damage, causing loss of production and trapping hundreds of workers. Workers involved in the works Civil Defence were brought in to help search for and clear bodies to get the plant back into production. The net effect of the November raids was to destroy machine shops in the four-storey 1915 building, the original 1863 gunsmiths' building and nearby buildings, 1,600 machine tools, kill 53 employees, injure 89, 30 of them seriously and halt rifle production for three months.

The Government Ministry of Supply and BSA immediately began a process of production dispersal throughout Britain, through the shadow factory scheme. Factories were set up at Tipton, Dudley, Smethwick, Blackheath, Lye, Kidderminster, Stourport, Tyseley, and Bromsgrove to manufacture Browning machine guns, Stoke, Corsham, and Newcastle-under-Lyme produced the Hispano cannon, Leicester and Studley Road produced the Besa machine gun, Ruislip produced the Oerlikon 20mm cannon, Stafford produced rocket projectiles, Tamworth produced two-pounder gun carriages, Mansfield produced the Boys Anti-tank gun and Shirley produced rifles.

These were dispersal factories which were in addition to Small Heath and the other BSA factories opened in the two years following the 1940 blitz. At its peak Small Heath was running 67 factories engaged in war production. BSA operations were also dispersed to other companies under licence.

Note - No further mention is made of Dudley ever being used!

 

[bubblehead]

thats great information ordanance, i wonder where the other shadow factories where? That may be something else to look into