THE EXPLORATION
This exploration was a very lucky night, which I thought wouldn't be very successful due to my session at the pub beforehand hindering my motivation. Nevertheless, the drinking was over fairly early enough for me to go home, pull off my clothes and quickly slap on my best Primark attires. stupidly enough, the exploration was not cleverly planned and we didn’t even know where to look! Unine and I had to rely on checking for clues from websites on my phone, which on 80% of the case means we might as well save our money for the journey home and have some netflix time instead.
INFORMATION
Clapham north hosts one of the eight deep level shelters, with 2 neighbouring shelters in Stockwell and Clapham South being not too far from it. These shelters are typically built adjacent to the London underground, spanning along much of northern line and central line underground railways. During world war 2, the structures served as an accommodation for people and shielded them from bombs dropped from above. Canteens and bunk beds were set up to house 8,000 people, which sadly were all cleared up by the time we managed to explore the place. However, other explorer have gained access into the Southern Air raid shelter which still contain most of the miscellaneous structures. Ironically, the war was almost over by the time construction of these bunkers were finished! This left the 1,200 feet tunnel empty ever since, other than a few such as Kingsway Telephone exchange (Chancery Lane Air Raid Shelter) which was in operation during the cold war. The surface building for all air raid shelters are distinctive, branding a ‘pillbox’ shape which looks like a circular shaft that sticks out of the ground. This is how one of them looks like.
More can be read from London Underground History.
For every shelter, there are two entry points from the surface, the third one leading to and from the neighbouring station. We checked one of the entrances, but was faced with a camera and police officers encircling the area, so we headed towards a more exposed entry point. Unine and I checked for any passing cars or people, and quickly hoped over the fence. Another lucky attribute to the night was the fact we were about to give up, when i double checked a door and realised we were trying to open it the wrong way! We swiftly popped inside to draw less attention to our displayed excitement.
A staircase of 176 steps (imagine us walking back up) leads down to the tunnels below, which is approximately 2 floors below Clapham North Station
Looking up the lift shaft that looks decommissioned.
At the bottom, Unine and I were met with a room with walls identical to tube bores. This is where a medical station was.
Beyond the left door from above, was a similar looking room. Late research indicated this to be the canteen room, or where bunker bed would be set up further down the stretch of the tunnel. Although i didn’t get to see any thing that left a physical record of 1940s people being down here (Posters, bunker beds and signs. They are still present in other air raid shelters though), the sheer size of the complex was fascinating I’d never complain unless I’m in a rotten hospital such as National Temperance. Really clean place other than occasional white crystal deposits which I urged Unine to avoid stepping on… The red door leads to the upper section of the tunnel.
Better angle to show what it properly looks like.
Here is the upper section after getting lost for a while. The white sheets were quite confusing, so i asked Raj about it. “There’s a mushroom farm being grown in a shelter!” An article reported a mushroom farm assembled in this shelter, but i’m guessing they got south and north mixed up. There is a striking similarity to say the least.
Another section that links up the tunnels. I didn’t explore this section as much but there should be a staircase that leads to the platform level Clapham North station.
Luckily these hanging signs prevented us from being lost.
A myriads of grid-like patterns spiraling into every corner. This place expertly showed off the amazing underground architecture of London.
The only other working lights down here.
Staircases that leads to the backyard of Clapham North surface station.
Surface entry used by official visitors. Unine posing for the ‘ghost hunting’ shot.
We then decided to walk out the door from this surface point, but was stumped by a padlocked door that already half broken. There is a certain type of lazy that makes you work harder than you even need to. In this case we tried to squeeze through the broken door, which was impossible so we had to walk back to where we came from. This bullshit is trending a lot, a least the walk back wasn’t as long as the Embankment tunnel trip! Nevertheless a great exploration, the hour and a half journey home was not too bad as a trade off.
This exploration was a very lucky night, which I thought wouldn't be very successful due to my session at the pub beforehand hindering my motivation. Nevertheless, the drinking was over fairly early enough for me to go home, pull off my clothes and quickly slap on my best Primark attires. stupidly enough, the exploration was not cleverly planned and we didn’t even know where to look! Unine and I had to rely on checking for clues from websites on my phone, which on 80% of the case means we might as well save our money for the journey home and have some netflix time instead.
INFORMATION
Clapham north hosts one of the eight deep level shelters, with 2 neighbouring shelters in Stockwell and Clapham South being not too far from it. These shelters are typically built adjacent to the London underground, spanning along much of northern line and central line underground railways. During world war 2, the structures served as an accommodation for people and shielded them from bombs dropped from above. Canteens and bunk beds were set up to house 8,000 people, which sadly were all cleared up by the time we managed to explore the place. However, other explorer have gained access into the Southern Air raid shelter which still contain most of the miscellaneous structures. Ironically, the war was almost over by the time construction of these bunkers were finished! This left the 1,200 feet tunnel empty ever since, other than a few such as Kingsway Telephone exchange (Chancery Lane Air Raid Shelter) which was in operation during the cold war. The surface building for all air raid shelters are distinctive, branding a ‘pillbox’ shape which looks like a circular shaft that sticks out of the ground. This is how one of them looks like.
More can be read from London Underground History.
For every shelter, there are two entry points from the surface, the third one leading to and from the neighbouring station. We checked one of the entrances, but was faced with a camera and police officers encircling the area, so we headed towards a more exposed entry point. Unine and I checked for any passing cars or people, and quickly hoped over the fence. Another lucky attribute to the night was the fact we were about to give up, when i double checked a door and realised we were trying to open it the wrong way! We swiftly popped inside to draw less attention to our displayed excitement.
A staircase of 176 steps (imagine us walking back up) leads down to the tunnels below, which is approximately 2 floors below Clapham North Station
Looking up the lift shaft that looks decommissioned.
At the bottom, Unine and I were met with a room with walls identical to tube bores. This is where a medical station was.
Beyond the left door from above, was a similar looking room. Late research indicated this to be the canteen room, or where bunker bed would be set up further down the stretch of the tunnel. Although i didn’t get to see any thing that left a physical record of 1940s people being down here (Posters, bunker beds and signs. They are still present in other air raid shelters though), the sheer size of the complex was fascinating I’d never complain unless I’m in a rotten hospital such as National Temperance. Really clean place other than occasional white crystal deposits which I urged Unine to avoid stepping on… The red door leads to the upper section of the tunnel.
Better angle to show what it properly looks like.
Here is the upper section after getting lost for a while. The white sheets were quite confusing, so i asked Raj about it. “There’s a mushroom farm being grown in a shelter!” An article reported a mushroom farm assembled in this shelter, but i’m guessing they got south and north mixed up. There is a striking similarity to say the least.
Another section that links up the tunnels. I didn’t explore this section as much but there should be a staircase that leads to the platform level Clapham North station.
Luckily these hanging signs prevented us from being lost.
A myriads of grid-like patterns spiraling into every corner. This place expertly showed off the amazing underground architecture of London.
The only other working lights down here.
Staircases that leads to the backyard of Clapham North surface station.
Surface entry used by official visitors. Unine posing for the ‘ghost hunting’ shot.
We then decided to walk out the door from this surface point, but was stumped by a padlocked door that already half broken. There is a certain type of lazy that makes you work harder than you even need to. In this case we tried to squeeze through the broken door, which was impossible so we had to walk back to where we came from. This bullshit is trending a lot, a least the walk back wasn’t as long as the Embankment tunnel trip! Nevertheless a great exploration, the hour and a half journey home was not too bad as a trade off.
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