Tunnels under Sheffield

[rain~n~shine]

I got a letter from the council today (friday 16th may) about the tunnels they have passed my information on to someone else and will be getting back intouch with me soon fingers crossed

 

keep us all updated sounds pretty good!!!!!! id love to explore the tunnels my self xx:)

[Satyr]

keep us all updated sounds pretty good!!!!!! id love to explore the tunnels my self xx:)

 

Why does no one read?

 

That was 16th May 2003!!! 6 bloody years ago!!!

[I1L2T3]

Oh there certainly are tunnels but they weren't built as escape routes for captive queens or medieval monks to avoid the light of day. They usually turn out to be ancient mine workings—Sheffield is built on a bed of coal—or abandoned sewers.

 

During the initial excavation of the 'hole-in-the road' there was a picture in the Star of two large abandoned sewers, one of which is shown emerging from under the building that is now the Banker's Draught and the other, about 5 feet high following the centre line of the High street. It was this same project that was delayed for months while the contractors dug out several thousand tons of coal for the Council to sell at a nice profit.

 

Quite recently one of the new buildings on Arundel Gate was also delayed to dig out and dispose of a large quantity of coal.

 

This coal has been worked since medieval times, usually by drifts dug into the hillside. Cambridge street was formerly known as Coal Pit lane because of the mine workings in the area.

 

There was a colliery at Manor Park. Pretty sure I've seen a very old photo that shows part of the old manor with the pit winding gear in the background. Not sure how extensive the workings were but would be interested to find out - there must be some pretty stonking tunnels still there, if they aren't flooded. Whether they remain accessible or not would depend on the design of the mine.

[gertie1]

There are tunnels under King Edwards upper school in Broomhill, our head teacher went and had a look when I was there. They had something to do with one of the wars as they still had stuff down there, I dont know how far back they originaly date though.

[Batty_girl]

Me and my brother were discussing this very topic today and both are super keen to do the same!

Have the council said who owns the 'tunnels'? Have they admitted to their existance?

cheers

[benga]

readers digest ran a story on official secrets that were allowed to be viewed by the public finally and that had heaps about tunnels in london, warehouses and factories underground from the war years and they also ran a massive insight into Edinbughs underground city that in the 1800's the lords of the day and the monarchy were going to drive the poor underground.. they ha dphoto's and everything, no wind up, quite scary and fascinating.......

 

so maybe an avenue to explore would be the offical (no longer) secrets they may hold on sheffield...... readers digest had maps documents....

 

hugs :-)

[biggsy]

a mate at work told me that him and a mate were walking their dogs in beeley woods when one of them (the dogs!) disappeared down a hole, his friend went down the hole and said there was a tunnel made of brick but not very high, he said that a man could crawl along it (but not easily), he had a torch in his pocket and shone it into the tunnel and it ( the tunnel) went further than the beam would throw..

 

he managed to get his dog out and they filled the hole with large rocks so that no one would lose their dog in it (also to stop anyone falling into the hole), the next time he went walking his dog, he said that someone had removed all of the boulders:confused:

 

now he's a big and very strong lad and he said that they struggled to get them to the hole, it must have been superman that removed them:hihi:

 

 

 

does anyone know of this tunnel and why it was built????

 

 

john:)

[depoix]

a mate at work told me that him and a mate were walking their dogs in beeley woods when one of them (the dogs!) disappeared down a hole, his friend went down the hole and said there was a tunnel made of brick but not very high, he said that a man could crawl along it (but not easily), he had a torch in his pocket and shone it into the tunnel and it ( the tunnel) went further than the beam would throw..

 

he managed to get his dog out and they filled the hole with large rocks so that no one would lose their dog in it (also to stop anyone falling into the hole), the next time he went walking his dog, he said that someone had removed all of the boulders:confused:

 

now he's a big and very strong lad and he said that they struggled to get them to the hole, it must have been superman that removed them:hihi::hihi:t

 

 

 

does anyone know of this tunnel and why it was built????

 

 

john:)

there were a couple of mines in the top end of beeley wood and a foundry,you can see the mounds where the mine shafts were capped off,the tunnel your friend found was probably up by the quarry

[cheapthrillz]

I remember when they were blasting those sewer relief tunnels under the bus station and Paternoster Row in the late 1990's (1998 or thereabouts). From Parkhill I could hear muffled loud bangs late at night when they used the explosive charges to blast through bedrock which underlies this part of town.

 

Yeah i remember these bangs as well, they also did some more drainage work nearer to the canal when they was trying to clear it up, the other reason I was told for this was work is that theres another tunnel prone to flooding which goes from PH flats to the incinerator used for taking bulky itmes from the flats to be burned for heating.

[firstmanonth]

There was indeed a tunnel from Holt House towards the abbey, but I think it had been closed quite a long time ago (think my adventurous sister explored when it was the Grammer).

 

If that's true, it begs the question: Why? Is the implication that it's ancient (i.e. built at the same time as the Abbey), in which case what used to be on the site of Holt House that was so interesting? If it's more recent, is it a sewer or something?

 

I walk my dogs on the Carterknowle fields several times a week, and now I'm going to have to poke around for evidence of tunnel entrances! Don't think my chances are great...