Secret underground street revealed in amazing photographs

An hidden underground avenue has been uncovered in Bristol.

The story of a hidden avenue beneath the metropolis's Lawrence Hill has been typically shrugged off as a fable or legend.

However one historian has revealed that the legend is true.

Dave Stephenson was fascinated by the concept of what might lie beneath the town's walkways and did some investigating.

The underground world stretches from Ducie Highway to the Packhorse Pub with avenue lamps and store entrance nonetheless allegedly identifiable, the Mirror experiences.

One story advised of a person falling by way of a gap within the street after just a few too many pints and located himself transported again in time.

One in every of underground areas and a bricked up door discovered by Dave Stephenson on his 1999 expedition beneath Lawrence Hill

In response to Bristol Dwell, again in 1999 Dave and a few companions got down to uncover the reality.

They climbed down into the cobweb-encrusted enclave that lies buried beneath the street at Lawrence Hill and he returned with wonderful photographic proof of the eerie stays of a forgotten period.

He has since investigated the true story of how these secret cellars got here to be there and what they've been used for prior to now.

Dave Stephenson, proper, investigates the underground world beneath Lawrence Hill in 1999 with fellow native historian Andy Jones

This consists of Hells Angel discos beneath the Packhorse pub, a coffin retailer for the undertakers, a secure for outdated Co op supply horses and an unofficial air raid shelter throughout the Second World Struggle.

One tunnel apparently ran beneath a financial institution, however they closed it up after somebody tried a break-in from underground.

Dave defined that 200 years in the past the well-known Herapath household owned the brewery linked to the Packhorse Inn, with the entire property stretching right down to Duck Highway and way back to Lincoln Road.

Lawrence Hill in Victorian occasions when it had a busy railway station

In 1832, a horse-drawn railway went by way of Lawrence Hill, subsequent to the pub, and there was a picket bridge excessive.

He mentioned: “When the Bristol and Gloucester Railway arrived on the scene William Herapath bought most of his property to them for £3,000.

"By 1879 this picket bridge wanted changing, so the authorities determined they might heighten the street.

An underground passageway beneath Lawrence Hill, Bristol, filled with garbage, together with a spooky outdated wheelchair

"Within the course of the Packhorse Inn – and the neighbouring outlets – disappeared as the brand new street was supported on a collection of arched tunnels.

"Amazingly, the current Packhorse is constructed on high of the outdated one and nonetheless retains the very steep stairs right down to the unique.”

Twenty plus years later, Dave seems to be again fondly on his preliminary journey underground, recalling the precise location they took up a grille and put a ladder down the drop.

The tunnels are actually deemed too harmful to enter.

Dave discovered proof of 4 tunnels however just one remained open, spanning proper throughout the street.

Three had been bricked up midway throughout, as had a lot of the outdated Victorian outlets - primarily to discourage thieves focusing on the brand new companies above.

“The one underground store nonetheless open had been stripped of every thing, even right down to the fireplace grate and different fittings. I noticed an outdated Victorian sash window body, nonetheless intact however with a lot of the glass panels lacking,” Dave mentioned.

The entire place was thick with mud and crammed with builders’ rubble and random objects together with a horse trough and an outdated wheelchair.

The road lamps had all gone when Dave visited and an area scrap supplier later advised him they disappeared within the Nineteen Fifties and would have been fairly priceless, however the outdated paving stones stay.

Today the tunnels are strictly off-limits to explorers, so Dave hasn’t been again. Nevertheless, some time in the past he joined an organized go to to the unique rooms beneath the Packhorse Inn with a bunch of cavers.

Dave mentioned: “The cobwebs there have been as thick as a child’s arm and the fireplace grate remained, coated in years of mud. An enormous RSJ beam engraved with the letters GWR (Nice Western Railway) had been put in to strengthen the constructing.

"The street above was constructed for horses, carts and carriages. Even with all immediately’s site visitors, which incorporates lots of of buses and really heavy lorries, it nonetheless stands, however few folks suspect what lies beneath.”

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