Comments on: Underground, Overground, Wandering Free

Underground, Overground, Wandering Free

longbaugh — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 00:45:33 -0800

Subterranea Britannica is a website devoted to underground sites in the UK, be they storage facilities, old kilns, chalk mines, military facilities from the cold war, astronomical observatories or even a precursor to the Channel Tunnel. It's full of photographs and informative articles and is a great resource for those interested in spaces beneath the earth. Dig deep and fill those gaps in your knowledge of British holes!

By: Artifice_Eternity

Artifice_Eternity — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 01:05:08 -0800

I had no idea someone had attempted a Chunnel in the 19th century. Cool. It sounds like they might have succeeded, too, if politics hadn't scuttled it.

By: twine42

twine42 — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 02:16:16 -0800

Nice title, but I'm sure this is a repost...

By: longbaugh

longbaugh — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 02:37:17 -0800

twine42 - I did check last night before posting but MeFi was playing silly buggers. I've checked again via google and yahoo and it's not been an FPP so far as I can tell - though Grangousier referred to it in a previous comment as has carter back in 2004 but it's never had it's own FPP so far as I can tell. I hadn't seen those two previous comments but lucked onto the site whilst looking for a reference in the Sark thread. I think it's certainly worth sharing.

By: mrbill

mrbill — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 02:38:13 -0800

I *love* this stuff - thank you.

By: hardcode

hardcode — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 03:20:33 -0800

See also the usenet group uk.rec.subterranea

By: sidereal

sidereal — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 04:26:06 -0800

*envy* - fab FPP, love this stuff. Here in UniStat, you no longer can prowl around photographing infastructure - current or disused - without provoking the ire of Homeland Security.

By: Pallas Athena

Pallas Athena — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 05:34:26 -0800

Now we know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall.

By: Pallas Athena

Pallas Athena — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 05:50:18 -0800

Also, they don't have my favourite one, Margate Shell Grotto.

By: Pallas Athena

Pallas Athena — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 06:00:02 -0800

Or Carnglaze Caverns in Cornwall.

By: bim

bim — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 10:23:39 -0800

Great stuff. I love things like this -- in the U.S., the U.K or anywhere. It kind of gives me the chills...in a good way. :) ...and I love this guy's stuff.

By: brundlefly

brundlefly — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 11:05:40 -0800

This is wonderful. Thank you. I want one!

By: washburn

washburn — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 11:58:06 -0800

supakewl. One interesting thing is that the c19 Chunnel seems on this account to have failed becuase of political rather than engineering problems. Those Victorians were serious about their civil engineering.

By: washburn

washburn — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 11:59:25 -0800

. . . as artiface already pointed on in the first comment.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 13:16:51 -0800

What fun! Thank you longbaugh. There's something appealing to me about underground dwellings, tunnels , hidden escape routes, stashes of all kinds and secret passageways. I enjoyed looking at the Maginot Line and Camden Catacombs pics at the wonderful Subterranea Britannica site.

By: verstegan

verstegan — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 15:49:06 -0800

I'm surprised this hasn't been posted to the front page before -- still, better late than never. It's an excellent site (and even includes a few photographs of the underground bookstacks in my own place of work). Alas, even the indefatigable researchers at Subterranea Britannica haven't managed to get into the underground library and ballroom at Welbeck Abbey. There's a photograph of the entrance on another site, but no photographs of the interior. Another excellent site, for those interested in such things, is Berliner Unterwelten, dedicated to 'the hidden secrets of underground Berlin', with plenty of photographs (and text in English).

By: arse_hat

arse_hat — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 23:08:16 -0800

Great post, thanks.