THE CURRENT STATE OF THE
CLIFTON ROCKS RAILWAY
copyright Nick Catford 2001Nick Catford's account of a visit 'down the tunnel' in September 2001. We are grateful to Nick for permission to publish his account. Please refer to him via the Sub Brit link before using the information for other than educational purposes.
Description of the tunnel in 2001
by Nick Catford
There are two entrances to the sunken top station, one at the junction of
Sion Hill and Princes Lane and the other a few yards along Sion Lane towards
the Avon Gorge Hotel. Each entrance opens onto the original stairway with
its hand rails intact. The two flights of stairs converge passing under a
white tiled arch towards the tunnel mouth. At the bottom of the second
stairway an entrance onto the railway 'platform' has been bricked up but
their is still an open entrance onto one of two parallel flights of stairs
running down each side of the 500 foot long tunnel.
The top section of the railway is still open to daylight although partly
roofed over. Glass tile and prism (some pink and some clear) panels have
been set into the roof to give sightseers a view of the cars; these panels
are still largely intact. The turnstile, pay box and platform have all
disappeared but the two horizontal pulley wheel remain in place and the four
tracks are undoubtedly still there although now covered with rubble and not
visible.
Throughout its length, the tunnel has been subdivided into a number of rooms
with brick side walls running almost up to the curved roof with access from
the two stairways down each side of the tunnel. The first room is reached
after 50 feet and its construction is clearly visible. Three parallel brick
walls have been built across the tunnel each being of different height to
take account of the gradient. Boards would have been laid across these walls
to give a flat floor but they have all been removed. At this point it is
possible to see the original rails (4 pairs) although the two outer rails
are lost (but still in place) under the steps down each side of the tunnel.
There are three doorways in the upwards facing wall. The two outer doorways
lead into small rooms or cupboards while the middle doorway leads through a
small passage into an up-slope room running the width of the tunnel. This
room cannot be accessed directly from the side stairs.
Below these rooms are three long rooms containing terraced seating with a
stairway down the centre. They look rather like narrow cinemas but are in
fact part of the air raid shelter, the terraces providing seating for the
shelterers. The lower two rooms have 21 terraced seats while the upper room
has approximately 12. Between each terraced room there is a narrow room
across the width of the tunnel.
Beyond the third terrace there is a gas tight door across the stairway
giving access to the section of the tunnel used by the BBC. The stairway
down the opposite side of the tunnel ceases at this point.
While the shelter tunnels and rooms are still in good condition consisting
of bear concrete with brick walls, the BBC rooms have not fared so well.
Beyond the gas door are four rooms one above the other. These were in order
(down), the transmitter room, studio, recording room and control room. Each
room still has its wooden floors partially intact resting on wooden joists.
The floorboards have rotted badly and have collapsed in many areas making
entry into the rooms difficult.
They appear to have been largely stripped apart from some electrical
fittings on the walls. Each room as a storage area accessed from the upwards
facing wall and running under the floor of the room above. The only real
evidence that this was a BBC complex is on the door to the recording room
where the word 'Recording' is still clearly visible.
Beyond the forth room is the lower station which was also used by the BBC.
At the bottom of the stairs is a short flight of steps in the middle of the
tunnel to an upper level. At the top of the steps is a small room to the
left and the ventilation plant installed for the BBC to the right. The
plant, consisting of trunking, fans and cylindrical filters is still all in
place. There is a vertical ladder down to the lower level at the far end of
the room. Back at the bottom of the steps are male and female toilets
(probably from BBC days) still retaining names on the doors. Beyond the
stairs a short passage leads out to daylight but there is a locked grille
preventing access. Alongside this passage a hole in the wall gives access to
a green pine panelled room that would have been the original ticket hall.
The doorway out to the street has been bricked up.
On one side of the room is a rusty iron ladder to another part of the upper
level (with no upper connection to the ventilation plant except through an
aperture high in the wall) and on the other side of the room a flight of
wooden stairs. This would have been the original staff area. The room is
stacked with ventilation trunking and curved sections from the roof. There
are further toilet cubicles on both levels.
Back at the top of the tunnel but only accessible from the flight of stairs
on the opposite side there is a passage out onto Princes Lane which is also
bricked up. There are two further toilet cubicles in the passage together
with a wide entrance doorway (doors removed) into the derelict Pump Room.
Although in a very poor state of repair the massive room is still impressive with
stone columns along the side walls, a semi circular alcove and coloured
glass windows high on one wall. The walls are painted black and the
floorboards have gone. Although some rubbish has recently been cleared the
Avon Gorge Hotel have been quoted £3Million for the restoration of the spa
so although a listed building it is likely to remain in a derelict state for
the foreseeable future.
I would like to thank the manager of the Avon Gorge Hotel (who own the top
station and tunnel) for unlimited access to photograph the tunnel. They have
made it clear however that no further visits will be allowed and the
entrance will be permanently sealed. The bottom station is owned by the
Council.
Those present were Nick Catford, Robin Ware, Keith Ward, Robin Cherry,
Andrew Smith {and Sarah}, Tony Page {and Sue), Richard Challis, Terry White,
Ross Floyd and Matthew Beasant.