FARVIS
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safety hat on, steel toe boots on, torch on, down we go!
...... down we go!
The steps go from the top of the Avon Gorge to sea level. Lower down they are covered in decaying wood and debris. It is no place for the faint hearted!
Firstly we will descend the steps right throught the inside of the cliff face. 500 feet downwards, checking each step for damage, debris and overhead obstructions. After a long time we reach the bricked up bottom station, just outside is the main road, yet this is deep inside the cliff.
This looks interesting - it's in a passageway just off the main stairs, and behind some of the other chambers that are nearest the cliff face. Above are hundreds of feet of rock weighing millions of tons .......
...... but watch where you walk or you might fall through one of the holes in the floor......
this is an old fuel tank from the BBC days .......
hurt yourself here and you would be in serious trouble!
and this is the old diesel generator room which would have kept the BBC 'on the air' for weeks if the main transmitters had been knocked out.
Exploring underground is EXTREMELY dangerous, but we will now climb one of the decaying stairways to the upper floor......
to see the old gas filters and forced air blower. This area is very dangerous as the roof and floor are unstable and rotting. Access is through a 24" hole in the brickwork. In the filter room on the left you can see the out line of the tunnel.
Climbing another rotten staircase, we find ourselves in one of the BBC mess rooms - a good description.
You touch one of the rotting timbers and above the huge beams creak and something falls to the ground....... this is no place to be trapped. Very slowly you retrace your steps and leave the rotting room - the beams are on the brink of a collapse and they weigh several tons - it was silly to come up here but we know better now....
Click here to see what happens now if you drop your torch.....
or just page down
Now we will start to climb the tunnel.................
and pass one of the old BBC offices. You can see the tunnel roof made from bricks - 24" deep - and the collapsed wooden floor and ceiling....
and this is all that is left of one of the BBC recording studios.
Now, as we climb the steps you can look back and see it is a long way down.
looking through another doorway into the centre of the tunnel, the floor has fallen in, and there are the old rails - there used to be four tracks, but the outer ones have been covered by the steps put in during the War.
and further up, looking through a doorway we can see a huge open chamber...
there are three of these and they were used as air raid shelters.
Imagine sitting here on the concrete steps while up above they were dropping bombs on Bristol and perhaps on your home. You would hear and feel the bombs exploding and if you had a direct hit on the tunnel .......
now we will go on up the stairs. The tunnel is 500 feet long and 27 feet wide with a centre height of 18 feet. The gradient is 1:2.2 - almost 45 degrees, a really steep climb,
that goes on,
and on,
and on......
all the way up you pass derelict rooms, rotting timber, decaying floors and collapsed ceilings. It is dark, damp and cold.
then
there's light up ahead!
and we are coming back to the surface!
That's sunlight coming down the steps from the entrance!
.... that gate is like something from 'Titanic' - which of course was built about the time the Rocks Railway was operating!
only one thing left - a quick walk down the linking tunnel,
and here is the Pump Room.
Once a beautiful ornate hall, with a fountain, a string quartet, top hats, fine clothes, and all the trappings of Edwardian middle class society .....
now a derelict shell without a floor.
and that's about it! We can return up the passage and climb the steps back into daylight...
FARVIS FARVIS
We hope you enjoyed the tour -
BUT
IMPORTANT NOTE:
THIS TOUR WAS ORGANISED BY SUBTERRANEA BRITANNICA, A GROUP WHO SPECIALISE IN UNDERGROUND ARCHEOLOGY. EXPLORING LIKE THIS IS NOT SOMETHING TO BE DONE WITHOUT STRICT SAFETY GUIDELINES, PERMISSION FROM THE OWNER, SAFETY EQUIPMENT AND BACK-UP. WE HAVE TRIED TO MAKE THIS AN INTERACTIVE ADVENTURE, BUT DO NOT TRY EXPLORING UNDERGROUND UNLESS YOU ARE PART OF AN ORGANISED GROUP.
leave our site and go to the Sub Brit Web Site www.subbrit.org.uk
School project work : email us and we can send you more information and pictures on the rocks railway, history and construction - during the trip we took over 100 shots and would be pleased to share some.
go on to visit the Suspension Bridge
back to Historic Harbour
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