Looking into Blackheath's mysterious cavern (Huge Cave system under London)

icSouthlondon ^ | Sep 03.03 | Mandy Little

[vannrox]

Land around a mysterious cavern underneath Blackheath could soon be under investigation.

Parkman's, the surveyors who investigated a six-foot-wide crater that appeared in the A2 at Blackheath Hill last April has said further checks on land stability in the area are needed.

Decisions on their report were to be made by Greenwich council last night.

But the council, which would apply for a grant from English Partnerships to cover the costs of the investigation, is not yet sure how much it will cost.

The collapse of the A2 into chalk pits after subsoil washed away triggered traffic chaos, hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes, and repair work spanning nine months cost £2.25million.

Honeycombs of chalk workings are known to exist under Blackheath, and rumours and stories about one of the largest, known as the Blackheath Cavern, located below The Point, have circulated for centuries.

The ancient chalk workings are said to have been shelters for the Saxons and later for 15th century rebels. Rediscovered in 1780, the cavern became a tourist attraction and a venue for wild parties but were closed down hurriedly in 1854 after a "disorderly masked ball".

Its existence slipped into legend until 1939 when, after attempts in 1906 and 1916, Greenwich council located an entrance using "electrical resistivity" and sank a shaft down 40 feet.

At that time a Kentish Mercury reporter entered the cavern from the back garden of a house in Maidenstone Hill, along with council representatives considering its use as air raid shelters.

He reported there were in fact three linked caverns a total of 59ft long and the floors were littered with broken bottles.

But concern about the stability of the area has resurfaced following last year's collapse.

Greenwich council undertook remedial ground works to stabilise council-owned Cade Tyler House after the road collapse and carried out investigation work around Undercliffe House and A2 where it meets Maidenstone Hill.

In a recent letter to residents, David Jessop, the council's assistant director of transport and highways, said: "Bearing in mind the recent subsidence and some of the recent investigations, I think it is prudent that the condition of the Blackheath Cavern and the extent of any workings in the immediate vicinity are thoroughly investigated."

A council spokesman said: "There is no suggestion of any immediate risk to properties as far as the council is aware.

"It should be stressed that responsibility for the land and buildings upon them is with the relevant property owners. But the council considers it has a wider public responsibility to take a lead in bringing about these investigations."

[prion]

There are disused and bricked up underground stations and train stations all over London, as you might imagine. Some can still be reached. One that can't be is near Crystal Palace, and I itch to get in whenever I see the bricked up arches. Toward the end of its life (in Edwardian times, I think), it fell into disuse and great fat spiders would fall from the high ceilings and splat onto ladies' hats.

Though most urban areas have some disused train tunnels or underground sewer lines, if you know where to look.

[TMSuchman]

Paging Mr. Holms, paging Mr. Holms

[spodefly]

Rediscovered in 1780, the cavern became a tourist attraction and a venue for wild parties but were closed down hurriedly in 1854 after a "disorderly masked ball".

I haven't been to a good disorderly masked ball in quite some time.

[vannrox]

You might want to check out these most interesting sites:

There are about 40 abandoned stations on the Underground network along its entire 255 miles (408Km) of trackway - some subsurface and some above ground. Some have vanished without trace whereas others are almost intact, grimey time capsules of the era when they were closed.

There is an entire subculture devoted to the exploration of disused buildings and structures. Some specialize in old military complexes, while others devote themselves to old skyscrapers and others to old subways and railroads. This is a great selection of links here.

Recreation, Urban Speleology . A great collection of yet more links for the boy in all of us.

[Little Ray]

Cthulhu Mythos ping?

[50sDad]

Paging Dr. Quartermass! Paging Dr. Quartermass!

[RightWhale]

great fat spiders

There was a problem with great fat spiders at one of the Royal residences a couple years ago. Women screamed, strong men fainted, gardeners reached for their trowels.

[Question_Assumptions]

Well, according to another web site, the problem is that the "disorderly masked balls" included some ladies who were quite "unmasked" in many ways.

[agrarianlady]

They better watch their backs for Daleks sneaking around corners.

[nkycincinnatikid]

So true! Just prior to WW1 a subway was built in Cincinnati. The war halted the aquisition of track and trains. After the war the inflation of the 20's required that an additional bond issue be sought to pay for completing the system. What with the simultaneous explosion of the automobile and suburban exodus they could never get that bond issue passed. My Sisters husband had done a college paper on the subway and had found ways to enter it. One evening at dusk he took me along with him, We climbed out the following morning before sunrise. What a grand folly! From a quite large main station about 8 blocks from the river downtown we walked about 6 or 7 miles to the vicinity of P&G's Ivorydale and back. There was no evidence that anyone ever goes down there . A bit of graffiti like you might find in a remote cave in the Ky hills but that was about all, except for an area chock full of military rations, blankets etc. apparently put there during the 40's or 50's as a potential bomb shelter.

[nkycincinnatikid]

I ran into that movie on tv a few years ago. It must have been extremely good because I actually watched it.

[Sir_Ed]

I love exploring old ghost towns and such. I've always wanted to explore the subway system in NYC and the hundreds of miles of tunnels underneath Paris.

Ed

[Sir_Ed]

"There are disused and bricked up underground stations and train stations all over London, as you might imagine"

I just read a neat book on the underground city in Edinburgh, very interesting reading.

I'm also reading a book on the forgotten islands of New York City and about all the abandoned buildings on some of them.

Ed

[ABN 505]

Whats the name of the book? Or Author?

[wideminded]

Yes, this is cool.

There was an article in Scientific American about 20 years ago concerning another chalk mine in England. It operated for more than 500 years, in prehistoric times. Apparently flint occurs as "nodules" in chalk and it is the search for the flint that occasioned the extensive tunneling in these mines.

[Sir_Ed]

The book on the underground city beneath Edinburgh is called "The Town Below The Ground, Edinburgh's legendary underground city," by Jan-Andrew Henderson.

It's published by Mainstream Publishing, of Edinburgh.

The book on the lost islands of NYC is a book I bought at the Governor's Island book shop.

They just opened up Governor's Island to public tours, it is WAY cool!!

Not as cool as exploring Gold Field or Gold Point, Nevada, two ghost towns in the Nevada high desert, but still, very, very neat to explore.

Ed

[Domestic Church]

Pinging you to post # 24.

[Cindy]

How interesting DC, and thank you so much for the ping.

[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]

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