Visited with BigBadAsh and Ojay
I seem to be spending an alarming amount of time underground at the moment, but i'm not complaining, in fact its the opposite! So when BHG told me about another great reservoir in London, i was very excited indeed! Consequently armed with cameras and torches BHG very kindly took BBA and myself to Greenwich one fine, warm evening! Hers and Kevin's research paided off as BHG showed us all access points in no time, which in the middle of a dark wooded park is not easy! With all entrances identified BHG made a quick getaway (Places to go things to see
) and left us to make our way into a vast Victorian Reservoir!
This place is amazing, it must surely be a one of a kind, a circular reservoir with classic Victorian archways by the bucket load! We spent a bit of time down there before heading of to our next stop of the Greenwich park underground tour! Now going into a narrow 400yr old tunnel was definitely a new experience, it just seemed to go on forever. The brickwork was very impressive with a bed of soft silt on the floor ( with kev and BHG'S foot prints in it ) which gave the tunnel a very dead sound, poor BBA is about 6ft4" tall so had to crouch down low to get through, at the end of the tunnel it came to a blocked wall
! At the end that we came in, there looks like a bricked up section which i presume went the Conduit house which was not far away!
So then after that we headed to our last stop which was another reservoir which during WW2 had been used as an air raid shelter, again i think this may have had an entrance via the Conduit House! Not massive inside but well worth a look, plenty of signs that it had been both a reservoir and an air raid shelter
This was a great place to visit and visit it again i did a few days later with Ojay, who i think had a good time too! He did have an oxygen alarm meter which went off in the small reservoir, so we didn't stay to long!
Some history of Reservoir
The Kent Water Works reservoir was made in
1846. Excavations for it were first started on the hill
where the barrows are, but public attention having
been called to the desecration of these ancient
remains by bringing the matter before the House
of Commons, the site was changed to where it now
stands, by permission of the Park Ranger, the
Princess Sophia of Gloucester. Twelve barrows were
destroyed at this time,
Reservoir pics
CONDUIT HISTORY
I wrote a more extensive history of these conduits but my laptop threw a wobbler, so here is a brief history.
Three main conduits existed in Greenwick park and were built in the late 17th century, we visited the Hyde Vale Conduit which fed into The Conduit House which still stands today! The conduits became obsolete by the introduction of reservoirs!
HYDE VALE CONDUIT PICS
Chamber where we entered conduit
Grill which was used to stop detritus entering drains!
Fascinating brickwork of this 250m long tunnel
RESERVOIR / AIR RAID SHELTER PICS
Thanks again to Bauhausgirl and Kevin Arnold for sharing info of these sites
Thanks for looking
I seem to be spending an alarming amount of time underground at the moment, but i'm not complaining, in fact its the opposite! So when BHG told me about another great reservoir in London, i was very excited indeed! Consequently armed with cameras and torches BHG very kindly took BBA and myself to Greenwich one fine, warm evening! Hers and Kevin's research paided off as BHG showed us all access points in no time, which in the middle of a dark wooded park is not easy! With all entrances identified BHG made a quick getaway (Places to go things to see
) and left us to make our way into a vast Victorian Reservoir! This place is amazing, it must surely be a one of a kind, a circular reservoir with classic Victorian archways by the bucket load
! We spent a bit of time down there before heading of to our next stop of the Greenwich park underground tour! Now going into a narrow 400yr old tunnel was definitely a new experience, it just seemed to go on forever. The brickwork was very impressive with a bed of soft silt on the floor ( with kev and BHG'S foot prints in it ) which gave the tunnel a very dead sound, poor BBA is about 6ft4" tall so had to crouch down low to get through, at the end of the tunnel it came to a blocked wall! At the end that we came in, there looks like a bricked up section which i presume went the Conduit house which was not far away!
So then after that we headed to our last stop which was another reservoir which during WW2 had been used as an air raid shelter, again i think this may have had an entrance via the Conduit House! Not massive inside but well worth a look, plenty of signs that it had been both a reservoir and an air raid shelter
This was a great place to visit and visit it again i did a few days later with Ojay, who i think had a good time too! He did have an oxygen alarm meter which went off in the small reservoir, so we didn't stay to long!
Some history of Reservoir
The Kent Water Works reservoir was made in
1846. Excavations for it were first started on the hill
where the barrows are, but public attention having
been called to the desecration of these ancient
remains by bringing the matter before the House
of Commons, the site was changed to where it now
stands, by permission of the Park Ranger, the
Princess Sophia of Gloucester. Twelve barrows were
destroyed at this time,
Reservoir pics
CONDUIT HISTORY
I wrote a more extensive history of these conduits but my laptop threw a wobbler, so here is a brief history.
Three main conduits existed in Greenwick park and were built in the late 17th century, we visited the Hyde Vale Conduit which fed into The Conduit House which still stands today! The conduits became obsolete by the introduction of reservoirs!
HYDE VALE CONDUIT PICS
Chamber where we entered conduit
Grill which was used to stop detritus entering drains!
Fascinating brickwork of this 250m long tunnel
RESERVOIR / AIR RAID SHELTER PICS
Thanks again to Bauhausgirl and Kevin Arnold for sharing info of these sites
Thanks for looking
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