C
chodjinn
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Guest
Following on from Northcaves report, here are my photos/report, kindly tweaked by northcave as i'm computer retarded.
The basis for the explore was to follow up a rumour from a previous explore where a small arched room had been found in the Wapping Tunnel, which required further investigation. There was apparently a lot of backfill, so excavation would be required; northcave purchased a trenching tool. There was a possibility that this could be a connecting tunnel to something else; possibly even the Williamson Tunnels.
Plus, neither myself or northcave had done a tunnel before, and Wapping is about as big as you can get! Another bonus is that it's only down the road!
So, with our aims in mind, we took plenty of torches (including 2 'Death Star' 2million candle torches!), batteries, food, thermos and a few other bits, and set off. Our original access point was changed when I spotted an easy entry, minimising exposure on the 'live' section of the railway and also a hell of a lot safer.
We actually missed the entrance to the small room on the way down, but northcave spotted it on the way back out. We climbed inside to find a small rough-arched room with plenty of headroom, there are plenty of tool marks but the place has a distinct 'unfinished' feel to it. There was a massive pile of loose earth and rocks starting only a few metres in, getting higher towards the back of the room until it met the roof. We took it in turns to dig, making a small trench to move the earth and rocks out of the way.
After more than an hour, we'd managed to shift enough crap to get a look into what was beyond: not much!
The roof goes up slightly, and apart from the presence of a sewerage pipe the place was filled to the top with dirt/rocks. We decided it would take extensive excavation to get in any further, which unfortunately was beyond our means.
So then, the question is, what IS the room, what was its purpose? Where does it go? From the look of the backfill, it was filled from the Wapping tunnel side, but I could be wrong. What is wierd is its position in relation to the Wapping. Standing in the tunnel, and looking up at the small entrance, there is a large section of exposed bedrock up to about 5ft. The first 'step' is at about this level, then its up another 6ft or so to get into the room, at which point you are about at the tunnel roof level.
It could have been a store room of some kind, it is approx. half way down the tunnel (entire length). If so, why the backfill? Also, why the random swerage pipe, as it looked like it had been installed there (more than one section of pipe). There's obviously something there, but we'd need a large contingent of 28DL in order to find out! What I am sure is that it doesn't connect to the Williamson Tunnels. The room is on the left as you walk down the tunnel; the Williamsons are on the right, and also some distance away. We did pace it out, so we know roughly where the room is . . . more importantly what buildings it is underneath/near.
I'm gonna do some more digging (hehe) around, and I'll let you know if something interesting turns up!
Camera is a Canon IXUS 75.
The basis for the explore was to follow up a rumour from a previous explore where a small arched room had been found in the Wapping Tunnel, which required further investigation. There was apparently a lot of backfill, so excavation would be required; northcave purchased a trenching tool. There was a possibility that this could be a connecting tunnel to something else; possibly even the Williamson Tunnels.
Plus, neither myself or northcave had done a tunnel before, and Wapping is about as big as you can get! Another bonus is that it's only down the road!
So, with our aims in mind, we took plenty of torches (including 2 'Death Star' 2million candle torches!), batteries, food, thermos and a few other bits, and set off. Our original access point was changed when I spotted an easy entry, minimising exposure on the 'live' section of the railway and also a hell of a lot safer.
We actually missed the entrance to the small room on the way down, but northcave spotted it on the way back out. We climbed inside to find a small rough-arched room with plenty of headroom, there are plenty of tool marks but the place has a distinct 'unfinished' feel to it. There was a massive pile of loose earth and rocks starting only a few metres in, getting higher towards the back of the room until it met the roof. We took it in turns to dig, making a small trench to move the earth and rocks out of the way.
After more than an hour, we'd managed to shift enough crap to get a look into what was beyond: not much!
The roof goes up slightly, and apart from the presence of a sewerage pipe the place was filled to the top with dirt/rocks. We decided it would take extensive excavation to get in any further, which unfortunately was beyond our means.So then, the question is, what IS the room, what was its purpose? Where does it go? From the look of the backfill, it was filled from the Wapping tunnel side, but I could be wrong. What is wierd is its position in relation to the Wapping. Standing in the tunnel, and looking up at the small entrance, there is a large section of exposed bedrock up to about 5ft. The first 'step' is at about this level, then its up another 6ft or so to get into the room, at which point you are about at the tunnel roof level.
It could have been a store room of some kind, it is approx. half way down the tunnel (entire length). If so, why the backfill? Also, why the random swerage pipe, as it looked like it had been installed there (more than one section of pipe). There's obviously something there, but we'd need a large contingent of 28DL in order to find out! What I am sure is that it doesn't connect to the Williamson Tunnels. The room is on the left as you walk down the tunnel; the Williamsons are on the right, and also some distance away. We did pace it out, so we know roughly where the room is . . . more importantly what buildings it is underneath/near.
I'm gonna do some more digging (hehe) around, and I'll let you know if something interesting turns up!
Camera is a Canon IXUS 75.
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