Westwood Tunnels

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The Westwood Tunnels are a network of tunnels which run under the Westwood Campus of the University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.

[edit] Description

The tunnels are a height of 4-5ft, approx. and connect the generator rooms (situated inside the bike sheds) of the Gosford, Hampton, Knightcote and Loxley halls of residence. There is no source of light once inside as the walls, ceiling and floor are all made of concrete. The tunnels can be accessed via any one of a number of large square manholes situated around the four aforementioned buildings, although some of these are easier to open than others.

[edit] Discovery in 2006

Prior to 2006, it was not known for sure whether the tunnels actually existed, as the university itself made no mention of them. This could have been to prevent students from discovering the tunnels, or even because they were not aware that the tunnels existed. However, it would not be unreasonable for the university to wish to keep the tunnels secret, so the former of these, it has to be said, is more likely. Many students, especially those living on Westwood itself, would have heard of the tunnels, but only as a rumour.

In the 2005-2006 academic year, three first years (Stuart Burditt, Stephen Flewers and Jonathan Gray), who were living on the ground floor of Knightcote at the time, were intrigued by the legend of the tunnels, which was passed down to them by older students who had lived in Westwood in previous years. They made a few half-hearted attempts at finding them in their first and second terms, but failed. At this point, they were still unsure as to whether or not the tunnels existed.

In third term, whilst on a weekend away with Westwood Church, Steve was told by Emma Kemp, a Warwick graduate student, that Aron Truss, another graduate of Warwick University, had lived in the same room as him (Room 15) in his first year. Upon speaking to Aron, Steve found out that the tunnels did exist, and that the entrance (or at least one of them) was just outside his room.

Excited by this breakthrough, Steve relayed the news to Stuart & Jonny. However, upon looking in the corridor outside Steve's doorway, they could find nothing. This surprised them as Aron had specifically told Steve that a fellow student had actually ventured down into the tunnels. Then, a few nights later, Jonny examined the area outside Steve's bedroom window and found that there were two large manholes there. He quickly fetched a torch, and verified that the tunnels did exist.

He told Steve and Stu but they were still sceptical until he showed them. Over the remainder of their third (and final) term in on-campus accommodation, they made about five trips into the tunnels, exploring all the accessible areas of it. They had to take extra care when opening and closing the manhole as they were very close to the flat of the resident tutor, Joy Pinks. Luckily, they were never caught; in fact, they were probably not noticed at all as they made all their expeditions after 1 o' clock in the morning.

[edit] Myths & Misconceptions

Although the legend of the tunnels themselves is true, there are a number of myths about them that are not. These include:

• Asbestos. To the knowledge of Stuart, Steve and Jonny, there was no asbestos in the tunnels, despite rumours to the contrary. It has to be said, however, that none of them know what asbestos looks like, so it is entirely possible that they encountered asbestos without realising it. To their credit, none of them have cancer - yet.
• Blockages. It is often said that the tunnels are now blocked up - sometimes with asbestos. This is true only to an extent; the tunnels are slightly blocked but only with tarpaulin held on with duck tape. This was no obstacle for the three students, but, being nice guys, they put it back up afterwards.
• Campus. Aron also told Steve that the tunnels led all the way to main campus, but the student in his year who went down turned back halfway to campus. Stuart, Steve and Jonny are now fairly sure that this is not true, but there is always a possibility that there is a part of the tunnels that they missed.
• Dogs. It had been said that, if students did enter the tunnels, the security team would find out and send dogs in to hunt them down. This assumed, however, that the security team would find out, which they didn't (on five separate occasions).

Ironically, it is possible that all four of these "myths" could actually be true.