Norwich has a total of 19 mines, mostly scattered around locations just in or outside the city center. Mined for chalk and flint from the Middle Ages until the beginning of WW2, initially the chalk was excavated from an open hole but then tunnels were started from the sides of the pits, as the value of flint increased. The older mines are the ones located closest to the City Center and then as work began they moved further afield, the last mine being close was the Harford Hills site.
There are claimed to be no detailed maps of the tunnels, as they were privately owned and during the 12th to 18th century, records were not kept of such things.
Due to stability and some being reported to contain dangerous gases, alot of the tunnels, as far as i can find, have been filled in, but a few remain accessible. Alot of people local to the area will remember in 1988 on Earlham Road where a double Decker bus fell into a large hole create by one of the mines.
This was my second visit to the mines, this time with a good quality camera! It is recorded that their are two sites at Rosary Road, im not sure if this is one or both, as on entry there are two doors about 15 foot apart (if that), but the tunnels eventually loop all the way round to one another. I had read somewhere that the right door entrance to a war bunker, but i now think this may be slightly further up from the site entrance.
They are in fairly good condition but with some graffiti which dates 2014, and various pieces of litter which are quite recent, but there is still some old beds and other chairs and tables so not all is lost! However when looking at various earlier report of the tunnels on this forum and other, it does seem that alot has been taken out or vandalised over time. There was a separate chamber of the main entrance you have to go through a small crack in the wall to get to, which we had the joy of finding one lonely bat! Thats was a nice treat
The tunnels themselves were reasonably sized with many separate parts and a few smaller tunnels which would need to be crawled through to gain access. I was very happy with this find and hope to get the chance to visit some other locations soon.
There are claimed to be no detailed maps of the tunnels, as they were privately owned and during the 12th to 18th century, records were not kept of such things.
Due to stability and some being reported to contain dangerous gases, alot of the tunnels, as far as i can find, have been filled in, but a few remain accessible. Alot of people local to the area will remember in 1988 on Earlham Road where a double Decker bus fell into a large hole create by one of the mines.
This was my second visit to the mines, this time with a good quality camera! It is recorded that their are two sites at Rosary Road, im not sure if this is one or both, as on entry there are two doors about 15 foot apart (if that), but the tunnels eventually loop all the way round to one another. I had read somewhere that the right door entrance to a war bunker, but i now think this may be slightly further up from the site entrance.
They are in fairly good condition but with some graffiti which dates 2014, and various pieces of litter which are quite recent, but there is still some old beds and other chairs and tables so not all is lost! However when looking at various earlier report of the tunnels on this forum and other, it does seem that alot has been taken out or vandalised over time. There was a separate chamber of the main entrance you have to go through a small crack in the wall to get to, which we had the joy of finding one lonely bat! Thats was a nice treat
The tunnels themselves were reasonably sized with many separate parts and a few smaller tunnels which would need to be crawled through to gain access. I was very happy with this find and hope to get the chance to visit some other locations soon.
