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Longbridge underground tunnels

T

tommy

master brummie
I was amazed that there are underground tunnels at the rover site ww2 bunkers and work shops i think, not a lot of infomation on them as it was a millitary installation, also there was tunnels at the old rubery hospital just up the road i think they linked up .
The tunnels aparantly go for mile,s ,one come,s out at harbourne somewhere (AMAZING) others exits or entrances have been bricked up. Anyone who can comment on them I would much appreciate your in put.
I have been on all the rover site,s and all other site,s and seen the footage of people who have gone down some of them.( brave people)
Who constructed them ?
what was there main aim ?
Did they run for mile,s ?
 
Hiya Tommy
When i was at the Tally one of my regulars who knew an awful lot of Birmingham history did mention the tunnels ..he said that during the war some workers were trapped on the Rover site..and the tunnels were sealed ..I had never heard of them before ..but I really think he knew what he was talking about
 
There were some photographs on the urbex site 28dl .com but it was a while ago and they may no longer be accessible. Tunnels always seem to attract grisly stories ie.The German Hospital, Jersey and its entombed workers. The use of tunnels on factory sites is away of keeping utility pipework out of harms way and leaving the surface free from obstruction. All rather mundane so worthy of a bit of urban myth to spice things up.
 
I wonder why Tony Robinson and the time team haven,t in investigated them ?
perhaps they are not worthy or old enough for a thorough investigation, any way thank,s for you tube films jennyann i have seen them before.
Arkrite it is true they use tunnels, for utility pipe,s etc but these are big long tunnel,s they go for mile,s you can walk down and are strewn with bit,s of old machinery air pumping station,s chemical toilet,s office,s partitioned in them but there are a lot of bricked up tunnels that are obviously connecting to other parts of tunnels (if you get my meaning ) there are also a lot that have been sand bagged up .It would be great to hear of someone who no,s the full story .
Thanks for all your in put
any more greatly welcome.
 
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I seem to remember that they had a big fire in one of the tunnels some time ago, in which a number of old cars were destroyed . Perhaps that's why some of the connections were bricked up.
Mike
 
Hi mikejee its been a long time since i have herd off you, yes on some of the you tube blog,s they mention about a fire they also mention that they dumped a load of asbestos down some of them ,that might be the reason for bricking them up mikejee your pretty good at finding out stuff have a go at this one for me every turn seem,s to be blocked ,(excuse the pun) information about the tunnel,s is very hard to come by .
virusman you say before they go ,do you mean the tunnels,?
I doubt whether they will go they must be about 100ft or so down proper bunker,s not just below ground level.
 
I walked through one long one that was simply used to carry engines from one part to another. It was not really allowed but as you had to duck under the engines but useful when raining. Can't recall anything that would be of interest to Time Team.
 
izzy eckerslike said:
That link only works if you create an account & log in unfortunately
Click to expand...
Sorry! Here's a link to Adders flickr set showing the same shots.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/adders0121/sets/72157623716819080/

I've been told by some contractors working on the Bournville college development that due to the working below, and what needs to be done at certain parts of the site, they may have to fill in some sections and block off the rest. I know lots of it is flooded down there, and there is actually a dinghy to get across parts of the tunnels!!!
 
Just a thought - the archivist at Gaydon Motor Heritage Museum may well have information on these Tunnels.
 
View attachment 49703Here's a map showning the exact location of the underground works directly below what was the main factory. Part is now being built on for Bourneville college, but the main section is now underneath the technology park. The light blue shows the shadow factory.
 
Photo 2 would not pass H&S today transformer and battery back up system in the same location.Dek
 
I am surprised that they are not full of water. I am sure I read somewhere that the water table has risen by as much as 50 feet due to the decline in manufacturing.

Terry
 
Remember that Longbridge site is on a hill so it depends how low down they are. I recall being told that when they built the new build shops for the 200/400 models much, if not all, of the sand required was excavated on site.
 
In the 60's I had cause to enter some of the tunnels for work reasons. I was told they were built as bomb shelters during the war. The tunnels I entered sloped downwards at the entrace and then back up, the explanation given that the bomb blast would disipate its energy and not be able to roll uphill and injure the inmates. The chap who told me this claimed that it was compulsory for the workers to enter the bomb shelter tunnels for the duration of an air raid but he never did, much to the annoyance of his foreman, he preferred to see where the bombs were landing and miss them! I think he had a point.
At the same times the company also held a private collection of it's notable vehicles (I sat in them all, including a double engined rally mini!). At some time they were moved out of the shop where they were kept and put into one of the tunnels, I believe it was this collection of cars which burned.
 
The one thing i can remember is there was 2 air ducts in the middle of cofton park they had a fence around them with a hedge and was gated they looked like beehives about 8 foot square
they was padlocked but you could hear factory work from them this was early 70s they disapeared one night in the 80s and grass was laid over them (this could possible be a security risk with the pope visit)
but there was tunnels under cofton park they was flooded and this was possibly a ammunition dump or somthing does anyone know if the tunnels are still possible to be entered and where the entry is

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammunition
 
Just to add a few more lines to this saga. I spoke today to one of the many onsite contractors who worked on the utilities of the Longbridge factory.
He said a full survey had been carried out on the underground parts . This would be about the time of the BMW buy out.Many of the bricked up tunnels were entered and checked.He said many places were unsafe. Beneath East Works are three levels of a shadow factory but these are now flooded.

I wonder who now holds the survey maps and detailed reports and findings.? Did BMW keep them or were they archived ? My friend saw them and mentioned the name of the Manager in whose office they were kept.
 
I think I will add my 2 cents worth of info, pictures and videos I have taken and gathered from Under Longbridge over the last 3 years.

Regarding the open/not flooded bunkers and tunnels dotted around the factory, I have been in virtually all of them.

I am not going to give out the locations to any of these, so please don't bother asking as I won't give you an answer.

There is a bunker with spiral staircases that is flooded on the now St. Mowdem's owned side (in immediate danger of being sealed, if it hasn't already since I was around the area 4 weeks ago).

It is however flooded and St Mowdem's won't allow us to pump it out (we have asked!).

Let's start with East Works...

Directly under the now demolished factory is a tunnel that was built to carry water from the pond above the site (where they tested plane engines), to the stream next to the railway. This is still there, but very clean and boring.

Next under East Works is a bunker that seemed to have been used to log the planes that were built above (we found a piece of chart marked 'Aero 1, Aero 2 & Aero 3') there is also a complete air circulation unit and up to 10 chemical toilets. In one half of the bunker is a room (now burnt out) with obvious metal pipes leading out the ceiling to the (demolished) factory above, this leads me to believe it had a comms room. There are also many separated rooms with wood braced doorways (I expect this was incase of a bomb hit above).

The other half of the bunker, there are 3 rooms, separated by sand bag walls. I have since learnt from a Firefighter that the sand bags were placed down there by the Fire Service who trained their servicemen to search enclosed rooms in pitch black, and the low entries to each room (you have to crawl) were to replicate a roof collapse. The second room is flooded to shin high as it has been blocked by both sand bag walls.

There are 2 main stairwells and 2 side stairwells, all have been blocked.

Let me take you on a guided tour...

Part 1 (9min 17s)

[video=youtube;TEScOoI5480]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEScOoI5480[/video]

Part 2 (7min 15s)

[video=youtube;G_mBDLU8oO0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_mBDLU8oO0[/video]

Some Pics...

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Next

We move from East Works Under the Flight Shed, through the Shadow factory, or the Aero Engine Factory, used during bombing raids.

This was the only purpose built tunnel that was made for manufacturing during Bombing Raids.

There are a few pics of this in use in a book you can see in Birmingham Central Library in the local reference section, or pop into Waterstones and look for the Longbridge book.

The video of our walk through...

[video=youtube;3Ndf40UPAXE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ndf40UPAXE[/video]

Pics...

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And some fun in the (pitch black) tunnels...

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South Works (Runway) Tunnels


These are the longest tunnels (currently explored) on site, they run from Lickey Road all the way over to the railway on the other side. They run directly across as the earth works did not allow the tunnels to go any deeper in.

They are called the Runway tunnels, named after the runway that was on top before the factory was built in its place. You can see the runway being used in this video...

(from 4min 30s, the hurricane is coming out of the Flight Shed)

Video from www.austinmemories.com

[video=youtube;vapEDE8jtzw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vapEDE8jtzw[/video]

The tunnels were used as an air raid shelter for the workers and surrounding communities during bombing raids, it was later used as a makeshift mortuary for all the deceased from the bombings.

I do not have a video from down here but do have some pics...

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Now we move on to West Works which I like to call, the 'Body Shop Bunker'

Not much to see here, but here they are anyway...

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I hope you all enjoyed my post, if you would like to use the images elsewhere, please contact me through my website (where you can find more Rover pictures in my Archive) www.photoaddiction.co.uk

D-UK
 
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Reactions: Two
Great pictures as always of dereliction of interesting sites that could have been put to better use perhaps ... anyway they made me wonder about some of the New structures going up on this particular site ..Sites ? if there are that many tunnels and they have not been filled in ...as it were ...is there going to be any danger of the new buildings subsiding in the future ??? Virusman ... you may get some interesting shots of the leaning folly of Longbridge lol
 
Old boy the system is to Pile drive concrete columns to good solid ground and build a concrete raft on them. Dek
 
The following is a letter taken from the opinion and letters page in The Birmingham Mail a fe weeks ago.
ll~1.jpeg
 
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