Reports

South Tyneside Meeting - July 2003 Trip to the Victoria Tunnel A Report by Margaret Stafford

July is traditionally a quiet meeting, so just for a change we decided to push the boat out and do a "trip" - we went to the Victoria Tunnel in the Ouseburn Valley. I don't propose to try and recreate the info we were given but to give you a flavour of the evening - and it was far too dark to take notes - any errors are mine!!!

14 intrepid members assembled at the Ship pub in the Ouseburn valley at 7.00pm yesterday evening - strange how our meetings all seem to revolve around pubs!! In the shadow of the magnificent arches of the Byker bridge, Metro bridge and rail bridge the whole area has an echoey, awesome feel to it as if everything is out of perspective somehow.

After a quick drink (for courage!) we set off on a walk around the valley, speculating as we went as to where the entrance to the tunnel would be. We saw the former flax mill built by john Dobson, now a centre for local artists at 36 lime st (guided tour available next Tuesday evening at 7.00 pm!), the city farm, closed because of the lead pollution from the former industries on site - lead mining and glass manufacture, due for redevelopment, the bridge built in 2 days by the TA due to be removed and the Ouseburn itself - with the tide in which allowed us to see ( and smell!!) it at its very best!! Speculation as to where the Roman wall must have gone - no sign of it now though there is a story there are 3 bricks somewhere in the wall by the river which are meant to be Roman

Pigeons abounded, fluttering around the old buildings, some of which have seen better days. the former flax mill has fared better than the animal sanitarium - more of a quarantine centre which could hold up to 4,000 sheep on 2 floors but which now gaped open to the skies, waiting to be rescued.

Industry started here in the 1750s, mining even earlier, stables for the horses needed to move goods, huge towering warehouses bordering the Ouseburn where the boats would have moored. The Ouseburn boat club, a cluster of odd boats one of which is one of only a few hundred traditional cobles remaining - being restored and due to have its first taste of salt water in 16 years next weekend

It really was like stepping back in time, on to the Ballast Hills cemetery where the Nonconformists buried their dead in the ballast dumped form the ships returning to the Tyne after delivering their loads of coal to London. The cemetery has gone now - a set of football posts and a grassed area remain but surrounded by an extraordinary footpath made up of headstones from the cemeteries - anyone want to claim Cuthbert Davison tobacconist be careful where you tread! We walked carefully examining the stones - some elaborately carved, others worn away

Past Ouseburn school with its Burmese style ventilation towers and the former Fighting Cocks pub, across the road bridge looking at the Winking Eye bridge and the Baltic across the river front enabling us to get our bearings and then into the tunnel itself - an innocuous enough looking red door - would it lead to a ladder, steep steps - what were we to face - in fact the entrance is the one created when the tunnel was used as an air raid shelter in 1941 and was easy to negotiate.

Nervous laughter as we donned our safety helmets (red, blue yellow and white - we did look colourful!) and grabbed our torches and had our health and safety lecture. The entrance door is locked behind us - no going back now - off we trooped with our guides Steve, Mick and Phil.

Some facts for you to further set the scene. The Victoria tunnel is probably unique. it was built as an underground wagon-way running for 2 miles beneath the city of Newcastle. In 1835 Messrs Porter and Latimer began to extract coal from Leazes colliery near Spital Tongues, an overland route to the river was objected to so in June 1839 under the overall engineering control of Mr Gillespie and with the tunnelling directed by John Cherry a Yorkshireman and the brick and stone lining by David Nixon a local builder with premises in Prudhoe St, the tunnel was started.

It was dug through boulder clay and in sections - there are areas which look like access areas as sections met up and were then bricked up to form one. There is no record of how many men were engaged but 200 men took pie and ale at its completion when there was said to be great merriment. Men would probably have worked in gangs on different sections at the same time so speeding up construction

"Completed in Jan 1842 (approx 2 years 7 months) it was 2 miles long and 85 feet deep at its deepest point. The total descent to the Tyne was 222 feet and the wagons descended by gravity, being hauled back by motor driven rope down a 4'8" wide rail. The noise and vibration must have been tremendous, when one ran out of control it careered to the river and sank a keel!! The first 6 wagons went down - 2 of coal,2 of dignitaries (but not the mayor who waited (sensibly) at the entrance to see how the dry run would go!!) and 2 wagons of bandsmen - presumably improvising!! There is no record of the music played

The pit closed in 1860 so the working life of the tunnel was just 18 years. That it survives and is accessible is remarkable. It was converted to use as an air raid shelter in 1941 when 7 entrances were created and blast walls added to protect those within. Some of the tunnel has been used for sewer pipes, some taken by the central motorway but a remarkable proportion survives and this was what we were to see.

An additional concrete floor was added when the conversion was made to the air raid shelter, head room was reduced to 6'plus and walking 2 abreast was comfortable as our torches played on the bricks from the mid 19th Century. There is a drainage channel which is not terribly effective so we had some "clarty" bits to negotiate but no paddling was required. We saw the original ladder which was the original entry - too rusted now to be safe, we saw the area where a local entrepreneur attempted to use part of the tunnel for mushroom manufacture (failed)

We passed stalactites, lime washed walls, some authentic corrugated iron roofing where the tunnel had to be repaired (when it was only about 10' deep) presumably after bomb damage. The rails are gone but the post holes remain where the benches and bunks were added during the war.

The temperature is pretty stable at 11 degrees (and indeed it was a welcome relief from the humidity today), some areas are long and straight, bisected by the blast walls, but there are steep turns. At the furthest point in we were 82 feet deep and had gone about 540 yards but there was no awareness of this as we travelled. We saw the rings where the wartime chemical toilets had been sited - separate areas for ladies and gents

Then of course, once we had been lured in, came the grisly bits - there has been one fatality - a Mr Coulson who with 2 others was walking up the tunnel and had the misfortune to do it at the same time the coal wagons were coming down, 1 was badly injured, 1 survived by lying flat and letting the wagons go over him but no such luck for Mr Coulson (anyone want to claim him?)! Apparently there used to be a cross in place at about the spot it happened - and as we were being told this(and pure coincidence of course ) we had without knowing been making our way to the bridges and a metro train rattled past, sounding like the very wagons we had just been talking about!! There was also the tale of the poor woman who came in to shelter as the bombs were dropping, realised she had forgotten her life insurance policy and slipped back home for it (I suspect you may be ahead of me here ) and of course was killed by an anti aircraft gun!!

When we all switched our torches off it was very dark!!

We had also been promised we would see a special brick and sure enough we did (blythe brothers I think) - just 1 beautifully inscribed brick though we has seen others on our earlier walk around the valley

There was the talk about the tunnel settling - the bricks separating - but we were reassured this had probably happened just after the tunnel opened though Phil looked a bit shaken when he pointed out to me the glass strips put in some years ago by the structural engineers to check for movement and we discovered they had cracked!!

The tunnel has been open for guided visits for about 2 years on a voluntary basis - contact the Ouseburn Heritage Group on 0191 230 4210 or email ouseburntrust@btconnect.com

We can recommend it!!