Subterranean London
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The metropolis of London has been occupied for millenia, and has over that time acquired a large number of subterranean structures.
Some of the first underground structures were related to rivers and sewerage. As the city developed from a cluster of villages, many of the existing rivers were buried or canalized: see subterranean rivers of London. As the natural rivers failed to be able to carry the sewerage of the growing metropolis, the resulting health crisis led to the creation in the late nineteenth century of the London sewerage system, designed by Joseph Bazalgette, one of the first sewer systems in the world.
The London Underground, which started construction in the same period, was the first underground railway in the world, and remains the most extensive. During World War II, parts of the Underground were converted into air-raid shelters known as the deep-level shelters. Some of these were converted for military and civil defence use, such as the now-defunct Kingsway telephone exchange. There are also a number of closed London Underground stations which are no longer accessible to the public.
Numerous tunnels underneath the River Thames have been created, ranging from foot-tunnels to road tunnels and the tunnels of the Underground. The first of these, the Thames Tunnel, designed by Marc Brunel, was the first tunnel to be built under a river.
A number of underground military citadels have been built under London, the most famous of which is the Cabinet War Rooms, used by Winston Churchill during World War II. A number of other civil defence centres in London are wholly or partly underground, mostly as a legacy of the Cold War. Many other subterranean facilities exist within the centre of government in Whitehall[citation needed], many linked by underground tunnels[citation needed]. Cabinet Office Briefing Room A, the Cabinet Office crisis management facility, is probably the best-known of these facilities.
A number of books have been written about these facilities, including Beneath the City Streets by Peter Laurie and War Plan UK by Duncan Campbell.
London, like most other major cities, also has extensive underground infrastructure for electricity distribution, natural gas supply, water supply, and telecommunications, including the BT copper local loops and optical fibre from numerous suppliers.
The Thames Water Ring Main is a notable modern piece of large-scale water supply infrastructure, comprising 80km of wide-bore water-carrying tunnels.
A number of other disused underground systems exist:
- The London Hydraulic Power Company, set up in 1883, installed a hydraulic power network of high-pressure cast iron water mains under London. These were bought by Mercury Communications for use as telecommunications ducts.
- An extensive private underground railway, the London Post Office Railway, was constructed by the Post Office, but is now no longer used.
[edit] See also
General topics:
- Closed London Underground stations
- Military citadels under London
- London deep-level shelters
- Tunnels underneath the River Thames
- London sewerage system
- Subterranea Britannica
- Neverwhere, a story set in a fantasy underground London
Individual sites of interest:
- Kingsway tramway subway
- Criterion Theatre
- Camden Catacombs
- Tower Subway
- King William Street Station
- Holborn Viaduct Low Level Station
- Oxgate Admiralty Citadel
- The Rotundas, Marsham Street
- Bishopsgate Goods Station
- British Library basement
- Gatwick Airport passenger subway
- Northern Outfall Sewer
- Southern Outfall Sewer
[edit] References
- Emmerson, A. and Beard, T. (2004) London's Secret Tubes, Capital Transport Publishing, ISBN 1-85414-283-6
- Trench, R. and Hillman, E. (1993) London Under London: A subterranean guide, second revised edition, London: John Murray, ISBN 0-7195-5288-5
