The videos are really nice and informative, but isn't it a bit sad that they can do it so well with a probably rather small budget while the BBC literally has huge amounts of money at their hands? Says a lot about traditional media these days...
Like myself, I love the way you integrate maps, historical records and ground investigation into topics. It's a rare skill these days as most people think Google has the answer to everything and do a few google searches then declare they know the truth. You are true historians.
I was born in Swindon and lived as a young child in Dunbarton Terrace which is the road next to Hunt Street. We had to move out due to the house land sliding in to Queens park. I found this video very interesting and love local history. Anymore on Swindon would be great 😁
I lived just across the road for 4 years and always wondered why they called it 'Tunnel House', and now I know! Anyway, really interesting and well-made video and there's a nice piece about you in the Evening Adver today.
I have lived in Swindon since 1996 and seen it change a lot. I'm really fascinated by the history of the town. I didn't know about this thank you for sharing. Oh and I have subbed 😎👍
It's the algorithm of the Internet the Internet knows a lot about people that's why people can take your identity if they really tried I got recommended this since I was looking for places in that area because I'm planning on moving outside of London
Besides being the chosen for the centre for locomotive engineering, Swindon was also infamous for an appalling refreshment caterer that had the franchise at Swindon. This is what Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the engineer for the line, wrote in a letter :- "Dear sir I assure you that Mr Player was wrong in supposing that I thought you purchased inferior coffee. I thought I said to him that I was surprised you should buy such poor roasted corn. I did not believe you had such a thing as coffee in the place; I am certain I never tasted any. I have long ceased to make complaints at Swindon. I avoid taking anything there if I can help it."
@@wingedfinger I was under the impression the A4's were all built at Doncaster Plant by LNER, is there a Great Western train which holds an unofficial record which beats the Mallard?
Great video again Paul and Rebecca. They built railways everywhere, sometimes with no prior thought of, can we get through, or will it make money. I've only been to Swindon once, drove round the famous magic roundabout and stayed at the Menzies hotel for one night. One of my classic bikes was given a Swindon number, VMR.
In terms of distance, Swindon was rather closer to Bristol than it was to London, but the GWR route got steaper beyond Swindon and needed locos with Smaller driving Wheels (Smaller wheels mean a loco better for climbing hills) and while Swindon was rather 'off centre' in terms of distance, the locos were swapped here, and the idea was, it was as many wheel revolutions on the bigger locs from London, as it was on the smaller wheeled locos from Bristol, so the locos for each end of the line would wear out at the same rate.
What a fascinating comment. I've never heard that explanation and, I must admit, I thought Brunel's main line was straight and flat. Is it not referred-to as the "billiard table"?
I grew up around that area in the 70s, and being from a railway family remember the Old Town station with track and a diesel shunter . I was also told of the tunnel by my Grandmother, now long passed, who as a child remembered being told about how they started the tunnel at the Queens Park end the spoil being heaped up around the area of the current park. She told ne that the tunnel kept collapsing and for years there used to be an inspection door in the end for the council engineer I think to inspect as the unlined tunnel kept collapsing. I remember at the back of the park a gate in a fence and a keep out notice, but the undergrowth was too thick to see much. By the early 80s a friend and I decided to climb over the fence to have a look but got caught by the Park Warden and told off with a warning, and a story which was probably to sate our youthfull curiosity of the tunnel only going a few dozen yards and how at any momanr the whole thing might collapse. Just full of rubbish and muck he said!
Mate definitely you need to try your luck in national geographic The way you speak and the voice you have and the personality what you have It sounds like you made for this
As a Swindonian, this was really interesting! I’d clocked you we’re fairly local, from other videos, but would love to see more on Swindon things like this (and the mechanics institute and its various sagas through the last 20 years!)
@@pwhitewick there is also the tunnel under the Dingle Liverpool which was the only tunnel on the Liverpool Overhead railway, the tunnel collapsed in 2012 and has now been repaired.
This video popped up randomly in my feed today. Not what I normally watch, but I thought it might be interesting. I sure hope it’s just coincidence, given I live about 2 mins walk from Queens Park. Otherwise I might have to go and make myself a tinfoil hat...
A few years ago I met a Landscaping contracter that had carried out some work in Queens park, possibly around the time Tunnel House was built. He claimed they had uncovered the tunnel entrance, he said they filled it in and built the ground to a higher level. The tunnel at Marlborough was open a few years ago, I walked through it, at one point they grew Mushrooms in it.
@@pwhitewick just another thing to say by the southern entrnce of Marlborough tunnel there used to be a temporary siding/station in ww2 where they unloaded ammunition to store in savernake forest . If you go down a road called the grand avenue in the forest you can see remains of the bunkers where ammunition was stored
What Mr Lay saved on his cheap property for 'Tunnel House' was probably all spent on engineering, extra construction, & a mountain of applications to the council!
Nice video, thanks! I used to live on Hunt street, I can see my old house behind the Tunnel House in the picture. Lost a bit of our garden in the early 80s to a landslide. I don't know if it's because of the poorly filled in tunnel but you could really feel the vibrations from the house if a lorry went by outside.
I'm surprised, since it so wet, that they didn't turn the railway tunnel into a canal tunnel! But from what I've read, they encountered a band of clay that they hadn't known was there. I'm just amazed that a genius like Brunell didn't figure out a solution, after all he and his father built a tunnel under the Thames river.
There is a couple of old railway tunnels near my house. One of them recently dug up now, however, one is still there in Gill Bridge Park on the banks of the Wear in Sunderland
I’m sure I read somewhere many years ago that the reason that the GWR placed the works at Swindon was due to the fact that it was the point on the line where the very flat section of the railway from London (Brunel’s billiard table) changed to the more hilly route onwards to Bristol. Hence it was a good place to change from fast locomotives with larger wheels to ones with smaller wheels that were better able to cope with the increased gradients west of Swindon.
Regarding Swindon street names being towns on the GWR line, I presume many of those moving to Swindon to work for GWR would have come from those same towns!
Really interesting! Love our home town and it's history! Great job guys! There is a secret smaller tunnel, off Dean Street. It was access for the workers to get into the factory. Interesting tunnel.
My dad was a builder and he told me about the tunnel when we visited Queen's Park. I think he had to do some work there and up in Old Town that related to it. He also did some work on or around the skew bridge that carried the M&SWJ across the Wilts & Berks Canal. He would have loved this video. Thanks for making it.
You two look like interesting tour guides with with your passion for abandoned railways, have you considered dipping your toe into offering people the chance to come along for your enjoyable aimless journeys?
I think in the 1980s some worker died whilst the ground was being stabilised. You could walk all around the lake one time, think it's been closed off round the back.
Found this very interesting as when I was 7 we used to travel from the Newport St Station down to Southampton in carriages with no corridor. Will follow as I have an interest in Canals and railways in fact various structures.
Despite the problems they had there Swindon Old Town has a network of old (smugglers) tunnels running underneath it. Some bits are still accessible I think from the cellars of some of the buildings.
Villets house and The Goddard arms. Also in the town centre there are 2 large round concrete structures that are access point. The computer museum and other shops nearby can access the tunnels near the Wyvern theatre, they come in the car park just below the Theatre.
Natives of Wiltshire were called 'Moonrakers' especially those engaged in smuggling and other nefarious activities around Swindon and there is a pub named after them. Old Swindonians were called 'Moonies'.
Went to Swindon many times when I worked round there, including the infamous Magic Roundabout but this is a new one on me. Thanks for yet another piece of lost history.
@@jaynedavis4667 There are some tunnels that can be accessed (Not by public though) through Villets house and the Goddard arms as well. Originally i beleive they connected through to Coate water but as far as i know they have been filled in/caved in along the route.
Very interesting video. When there is a road number, that it's prioritised over road names. They would space for both at the scale you had the map at but they don't do that. Personally I would display both. I work in mapping and addressing, hence my interest the maps, amongst everything else.
Speaking of abandoned tunnels, the Woodhead line Manchester- Sheffield Victoria has Woodhead Tunnel and Thurgoland Tunnel still intact, Thurgoland you can walk through. Pieces of track lay dotted around, with evidence it was a double track mainline. All stations apart from Thurgoland, Hazelhead Bridge and Oxspring remain fully intact, and Oxspring can only be estimated for location. Interestingly Thurgoland was also the UK's shortest lived mainline station, at 1y11m total. This is one of the most interesting abandoned lines, and the old Grand Central Railway original station and engine shed are fully intact. Have you any idea when you may do that line? Just really like this line, and am frankly obsessed with the railway infrastructure, and I can't wait to see your visit to it
@@danensis Ay up, where am I thinking of? There's an information board and the bridge, with small arch where Passengers walked the Platform. Named specifically after a bridge? Oh Hazelhead Bridge! That's the one! Now correctly edited
@@AnonYmous-wp6qh Dunford Bridge and Wadsford Bridge are the two that spring to mind. Hebden Bridge, between Halifax and Todmorden, is very much still open.😁
@@pwhitewick Obviously channelling my inner Sherlock well today! Sorry, I forgot to comment on the video itself. Another mine of interesting facts, I learn so many interesting things from your channel, whether I remember them is another thing!
Film Brain (Mathew Buck) lives in Swindon and he's made many jokes over the years about Swindon. Edit: Also, that brown pen looks like it's Austin Allegro brown....
well damn. all this time i was looking for the tunnel on maps and i was looking on the wrong end! liverd in swindon my whole life and am quite a fan of the M&SWJR (earlier SM&AR) lovely video, thank you
Sitting here in Houston, TX, I have no idea why I watched this. Never heard of Swindon, never been to England and never will. It must be Coviditis settling into my brain.
Is there still any access to the tunnels? I know there is access from the steam railway pub( from the cellar) there was also one in the old lacarno but that’s been bricked up, there must me more entrances somewhere
Great research here. Fascinating to hear of a planned tunnel actually being abandoned completely because they couldn't solve the civil engineering problems. Fareham Tunnel in Hampshire had similar problems and landslips caused several closures. They even built a "geological avoiding line" which experience showed did not actually avoid the problem. In 1967 the avoiding line was closed and they build houses on top of the cutting, like Hunt Street in Swindon. Surprise, surprise, they later encountered subsidence problems. The original line survives, with a very wide shallow sided cutting stabilised by trees.
This reminded me of my hometown, Richmond, Virginia, USA. There a tunnel under Chimberazo Hill but known as the Church Hill Tunnel. It collapsed in 1925 killing four men and trapping a train of ten cars. Both entrances are hard to find tody. One is bricked up but the other was open- and very dangerous, when I explored it in the early 1990's. Here's a link to it. @ The Whitewicks- this is right up your alley! Er- tracks.. Anyway, if you're ever in the States, (you're British so I know you'll visit Virginia! We love you too!) You might want to check it out. Heres a link www.onlyinyourstate.com/virginia/abandoned-tunnel-virginia/.
As well as already having a stone quarrying industry in the town, which was also useful for the GWR, and was why the canals came through Swindon in the first place.
Great video with lots of knowledge, but is it Swindons most dangerous? When I was a young lad circa 1995, I would knock about in the site of the old railway works - which is now the designer outlet village. In those days, the site was enormous, completely derelict and fascinating. The site included the two outlet carparks and the site of the museum in its footprint. Many empty sheds and buildings stood on the site, including the pattern store bar, it was a treasure trove of railway artefacts. During that summer, we explored the site, top to bottom, over and above ground. One day, to the west of the outlet we discovered an enormous tunnel which was open to the air in only a small section. Removing a make shift cover the tunnel below must have been some 30-40 ft deep and ran under what is now the Outlet's west car park. After days of exploring, we could not locate the tunnel entrance, and despite our best efforts, could find no way down into the tunnel, from the make shift cover as it was just too dangerous. So, because I have no idea how long that tunnel was, a carpark and perhaps even a housing estate has been built over it - could this be Swindons most dangerous tunnel? I have drawn a rough map of the tunnel location here - imgur.com/gallery/2IqFXut Do you have any knowledge of this tunnel? Or maybe it is a future project, I would love to know more!
Now this sounds like a decent mystery to look into. Can you drop us an email? I can't view the link you've sent for some reason! whitewickpaul@gmail.com Much appreciated
Worked in hunt Street for Norman's, the rumours was underneath hunt Street they filled the tunnel with railway carriages, the other rumour was one day hunt Street would sink.
Very interesting and new to me. They filled in the cutting and eventually Tunnel House was built but did they infill the actual tunnel? If you look at Hunt Street on StreetView, opposite Tunnel House is a modern three storey town house. That would be about 70 ft above the tunnel according to the section diagram. PS Rebecca's looking very smart. I think she is saying "Stop taking the pens from my hands. I want a bigger part in these videos!"
Am I understanding correctly, they dug a tunnel part ways, but the soil kept collapsing, so they abandoned the project, leaving a section of built tunnel running an unknown distance under the town? Has anyone gone into it in recent years? Is it accessible?
Pretty much sums it up. There was a headway dug we think, but how far no one knows. They buried the portal significantly so little chance of uncovering anything
@@pwhitewick There is the possibility that the existing section of tunnel could collapse. It appears that in earlier times, sections of the tunnel actually did collapse, causing subsidence, and major problems, at the surface. Hypothetically, all of the tunnel that they ever built has already collapsed, but since there is no access to inspect it, nobody knows. It seems to me like the town should pay to bore multiple holes along the alignment and see if they hit cavities. If they hit cavities, they can send cameras down and see what's going on. Laser scanning and surveying will reveal the exact size and shape of each hollow. If anything looks like it's ready to cave in, they can pump concrete in to fill it up, but that would take a vast amount of concrete. They may be better off by just removing all the soil above, busting the tunnel vault, and filling it in with soil and compacting it. It's not as flamboyant a hazard as the SS Richard Montgomery is to London, but it does pose a certain amount anxiety.
It is a great video. I live near Swindon, almost on where the M&SWJ used to run. I was aware of some of the history and locations of the tunnel, but had never drawn it all out. You must have my "round tuit" as I never have the time! As mentioned by Ian, the planning department must have some detailed ground surveys, provided as part of the planning applications.
Around 24 years ago I too lived on Hunt Street, back then, I don't know about now, but you would see Council contractors checking the sensors in the top of the hill in the Council land behind Tunnel House.
@@taffman1 humm... Interesting. Will keep an eye out if they still check the sensors and what do they do these days to make sure the stability in this area. That council area is now Queen's Park which still consists of wasteland between the Tunnel House and Queens Park Lake.
I had a home on the east side of Dover Street and lived there from 2006 to 2012. I never knew anything of this. My home dated from 1881. It was built of red brick (later covered over with stucco) that I was told came from the quarry that is now Queen's Park. I learned that homes on the West side of Dover St. had some problems with water seepage in the basement but those on my side did not. I have no idea if this is related to tunneling.
