The Welsh Bridge Tunnel

(Disclaimer: Joking aside, I fully understand the risks/dangers involved in these adventures and do so in the full knowledge of what could happen. I don't encourage or condone and I accept no responsibility for anyone else following in my footsteps. I never break into a place, I never take any items and I never cause any damage, as such no criminal offences have been committed in the making of this blog. I will not disclose a location, or means of entry. I leave the building as I find it and only enter to take photographs for my own pleasure and to document the building.)

I can't stress enough how long I've wanted to go up this tunnel. I've heard various rumours about it being an old means of entering various premises via the river, including the Shrewsbury Hotel, whose cellar it was falsely alleged to emerge in.
Another popular story, which sounds infinitely more plausible, is that this is a means of conveyance for the body of water that allegedly sits underneath the square. And indeed, there's some historic accuracy to this, because there actually once was a pool in what is now Shrewsbury Square, where they used to dunk witches back in the day. The water traveled down Mardol, via the alleyway next to the Hole in the Wall, which is why it's called Gullet Passage, and it used to rejoin the river roughly in the same place as this tunnel is.

The truth is, it's a drain, albeit an old one. But I wanted to know, how far underneath Shrewsbury did it go, and would the centuries of changes to various structures open this up to other historic tidbits? Did it emerge anywhere? Would I lift a manhole cover only have my face smashed in by the front of a moving bus? There was only one way to find out!

Well actually there's two ways... I could just get in touch with Severn Trent Water and ask for a drain map. But my way is more fun!

It's also hugely important that I stress the dangers of this kind of exploring. Shrewsbury is prone to flooding, and the UK in general is prone to awful weather. This tunnel entrance is roughly twenty feet below ground level, where I would have no phone signal, and no idea what was happening outside. If it was to suddenly start raining heavily, I could be left with a very short space of time to make it back to the exit. As far as the dangers of urban exploring go, rooftopping and derelict houses look mild in comparison. Drain exploring is the most dangerous activity an explorer can partake in, and it has taken lives before. 

So don't try to emulate this, or at the very least, delete your browser history first. I know my shit, and I take responsibility for it, and I'm doing it with two other guys who also know their shit, arguably better than I do.

Todays accomplices are Stuart who has a boat, and Jim, who I misheard the name of during our introductions and referred to as George for about 45 minutes before realising why he wasn't responding. Both are pretty knowledgeable about this sort of thing, so I was in mostly good hands.

And I got to ride on a boat!

And because I have a flare for the dramatic, I didn't ride in the boat. No, Stuart drove, Jim sat beside him, and I sat perched on the nose like a mermaid figurehead on ships of old, except I don't have a fishtail, and even more tragically, I don't even have a seashell bikini. But I will next time, dammit! I will have my Little Mermaid moment!

Seeing Shrewsbury from the river sure was a treat!

 I totally never noticed the fish statues on the English Bridge before!
Now allegedly these statues served a purpose. In the old days, due to Shrewsbury being prone to flooding, the fish were used as a warning marker. If the water level was at their mouths then the people living in lower areas prone to flooding were warned that their homes might get a little wet.

 And here's a nice river view of the theatre, which I climbed centuries ago. In fact this tunnel entrance is visible in the pictures from the roof.

And here is the nearby Welsh Bridge, which on a quick sidenote contains an engraving that nobody notices unless they know that it's there, containing the message "Commit No Nuisance."

This is on the left as one approaches Welsh Bridge from the town centre, and apparently relates directly to public urinating. I didn't notice it for years, but once seen, one wonders how they ever missed it.

After a brief tour of the river, waving at people who delighted in seeing me perched on the edge of a boat, breathing sighs of relief that I wasn't wearing a seashell bikini, we dropped anchor at the tunnel entrance. Jim opted to stay outside as backup, and we decided for safety purposes that he would periodically call up the tunnel for us, and if he didn't get a response, wait for ten minutes, and if he still didn't hear anything, call the emergency services. 

 A few feet into the tunnel, the water stops, as the tunnel tilts slightly upwards. It's worth noting before we go any further that this is a storm drain, and never functioned as a sewer.
Storm drains don't carry human waste, they simply faciliate the removal of water from the town into the river. So in terms of hygiene, we're not wading through any excrement or anything. That's not to say this thing is clean. No, it's far from it. But it's not the contents of peoples bowels that's down here, thankfully.
 This drain is pretty ancient, although I'm not an expert on advancements in storm drain construction. However I'm fairly certain that this is well over a century old.

This door is interesting. It's designed to open from water pressure from the inside, allowing water to escape into the river, but if the river were to flood, the water on the outside would actually hold the door in place, preventing the tunnel from flooding. As you can probably guess, it was going to be quite a squeeze to get past this.
I took a few moments to appreciate standing up straight, because it could be a long time before I was able to do so again, and then I crawled in.

 This tunnel is cramped and seems to go on for quite some time, although it's difficult to tell quite how far we were going, given that we were essentially traversing Shrewsbury town centre on our hands and knees in a confined space in the dark. Stuart did try to use Google maps to see where we were under, but with the ground roughly twenty feet above us, there wasn't a phone signal.
I do admire the ancient brickwork in this drain though. Despite being a location that the public shouldn't see, I find the tunnel aesthetically pleasing.

 It's interjected in places by other pipes passing through, presumably of more modern design. These did make it challenging, because in already cramped conditions I now had to get on my belly and squeeze myself under these obstacles.

 I'm not sure what this is. It looks like a more recent structure was built on top, cutting into the old drain tunnel.

 Various, much smaller pipes also join onto the tunnel, no doubt connecting to the surface.

 This particular drain grate is positively ancient and probably long out of use.

But once again, consider the danger involved here. If it started raining heavily, it's a long way to crawl in the dark, while this confined space fills with water. It just carried on going, too! I could hear the clanging of vehicles far above me driving over manhole covers that didn't even lead to this tunnel, and I crawled until the sound was behind me. Later I went into town on ground level to see if I could find any manhole covers that clang from regular traffic, but I couldn't figure out where it was. I have no idea where we were under.

Things started to get a bit dodgy towards the end as the floor of the tunnel became increasingly boggy.

Finally the tunnel begins splitting into multiple smaller pipes, of which I was not small enough to traverse.

But as you can see, the continuance of these tunnels was also restricted by the build-up of rubble. Physically, we could go no further.

Stuart and I turned back, which in itself was no easy feat, given the cramped conditions, and returned to the boat, emerging filthy from all of the dirt thats down here. My ride back on the nose of the boat was understandably less glamourous, what with me being caked in dirt, but we had a few drinks at the Crown, the only pub in Shrewsbury which you can visit by boat, and then thankfully Jim decided to give me a lift home, to save me walking among the humans in my cave-dweller attire.

Nevertheless, no regrets. This was an amazing little adventure, different from much of what I've done before, but totally worth it. I'm a naturally curious person, and every time I've ever walked over Welsh Bridge, this huge tunnel has just been there, mocking me in gaping watery silence, impossible to access by foot. So yes, this was an itch that needed scratching, and as such I enjoyed this adventure. Yes, it was just a drain, but I just enjoy exploring any nook and cranny of my town that is off the general publics radar, and arguably this adventure sums up the blog title 100%.

Having said that, it was also a relief to stand up straight again, having spent the day cramped up in this tunnel.

Thats all I got. Next time, I'm off to another abandoned house in Shropshire, and then, unless something amazing happens to sidetrack me, I'm blogging about one of the coolest places I've ever found, out in Wales. In the meantime, share this blog, follow my Instagram, like my Facebook, subscribe to my Youtube and follow my Twitter.

Thanks for reading!

Shrewsburys "Nuisance House"

(Disclaimer: Joking aside, I fully understand the risks/dangers involved in these adventures and do so in the full knowledge of what could happen. I don't encourage or condone and I accept no responsibility for anyone else following in my footsteps. I never break into a place, I never take any items and I never cause any damage, as such no criminal offences have been committed in the making of this blog. I will not disclose a location, or means of entry. I leave the building as I find it and only enter to take photographs for my own pleasure and to document the building.)

Hello everyone. Before we get to todays derelict house, I want to quickly mention a charity fundraiser- A Harley Quinn cosplayer friend of mine is helping to raise money for animals that are lost or abandoned during hurricane season in the US, with funds going to search & rescue, medical attention, food, shelter and readoption costs. They're open to donations of any quantity, but as an added incentive, anyone who donates $25 dollars (because it's being made by Americans) gets a Harley Quinn cosplay calendar, of which my friend is August! The conversion rate is generous too! In UK pounds, $25 is just £19.07. But as said, best of all, the donations are going towards saving animals. The whole natural disaster thing is a problem that we don't really have in the UK, but across the pond it's quite the issue and it's sadly not uncommon for families to leave their pets behind, willingly or not. If you want/can, donate to the fundraiser here.

Now on with the blog! Today I'm looking at a house in Shrewsbury that the local newspapers recently named the Nuisance House, which sure was nice of them, because it saves me having to think of a name for a fairly nondescript bungalow myself!
The newspaper article then completely fails to justify the name, as nothing about the house particularly makes it a nuisance. It's just sitting there minding its own business with barely any glass left in its windows.

The newspaper article talks about how the police have finally located the mysteriously absent owner of this derelict property after a lengthy search, after local kids started using the house as a den. According to the article, the house has been abandoned for at least a year, with plans to demolish it delayed for some reason, while the landowner fell off the face of the Earth.

My problem with the article is, it's written as if it's a follow up to an earlier article asking for information. It talks about how the owner has finally been located, and the case is closed. It's a closing chapter, in a way. But there is no article for this to be a follow up to. It's just them saying "There was a house that the police couldn't find the owner of, but they've found him now."
 They've basically published a story after it ceased to be news.

Over on Twitter, the police did post a little plea for information, and one would have thought that the newspaper, with its audience, would assist by posting their article in conjunction with that. But no, they decided to completely ignore that, and use their considerable reach and influence to bring attention to the problem... after the problem was solved. How convenient.

Imagine if the media didn't touch World War 2 at all until 1945, and then just said "This just in: A short Austrian man tried to take over the world and purify our species in what he considered a step towards genetic superiority but was actually pretty cruel and bigoted. But don't worry, we took care of it. So if you had any bombs drop on your house in the last six years, and you're wondering why, it was probably just him. Winston Churchill says, Sorry for the inconvenience. It won't happen again."

So anyway, I wasn't too keen on the Nuisance house, but since the papers made me and моя обработчики chuckle and facepalm, I decided to pay it a visit.

The house isn't that old, and from what I can tell from the sources available, it was empty for at least a year. It seemed that the owner tried to get planning permission to do something, and work did begin with clearing out the garden, but when the planning permission hit delays, the owner just thought "Fuck it" and buggered off. The house sat empty, until the local kids started hanging out in it.

I'm not sure what this little out-house could be. It's literally the size of a dog kennel, but it has a window. What, was Fido claustrophobic?

There's a thermometer on the exterior wall.

And here's a police sticker, obviously placed here when the police became aware of the kids hanging out here, and began searching for the houses owner.

The front door was wide open, but the floor was covered in smashed glass.

Presumably this was the lounge. It's fairly trashed, with a mixture of original belongings and litter. But there's still a plant in the corner!

I love that the plant is still upright and unvandalised while all around it is utter chaos. It's as if the people who smashed up the place suddenly had a crisis of ethics, and said to each other "We can't smash the plant, it's a living thing, dude. Its making oxygen for us."

There's a ruined basketball hoop on the wall here.

What I love most about the newspaper article was the phrase "we are now getting calls that some kids have started using it as a bit of a den... and possibly more."

Possibly more? How ominous. What's the upgrade of a den when you're a small child? Is that when you pretend that its a castle or mighty kingdom, and stick a flag on the roof and a sign outside saying "No Girls Allowed"?
Basically, the article is saying that police received phone calls saying that kids were hanging out in this derelict house, but nobody knew for sure what they were actually doing there. The obvious accusation to hurl at them would be the vandalism of the property, but at no point does it say that the kids are responsible for its present condition, which seems like a pretty big thing to leave out if you're just going to say that kids were using it as a den. It's almost as if it was smashed before the kids started hanging out there. Maybe they were just bored, and they saw an abandoned house, and took advantage of something cool and unusual. And seriously, what child didn't like playing in a den?
Imagine that conversation though:

"I'm bored, Tim. Fancy doing some ecstasy and maybe later we can mug an old person for their pension?"

"I've got a better idea, Jack. Let's hang on to our childhood a little while longer and turn this abandoned house into our den."

"Oh my God, Tim. That's an amazing idea. This will be the best 9th birthday in the history of 9th birthdays. Way better than Teresa Mays 9th birthday because, you know, they didn't have electricity or running water back then."

"That's a remarkably articulate thing for a fellow 8-year-old to say, Jack."

"It's because I read the Shropshire Star, Tim. It's a torrent of information and wisdom."

"Oh yeah? Let me check it out............ oh wait, we better put the derelict house plan on hold, Jack. The newspaper says that by using it as a den, or a form of escapism, we're committing anti-social behaviour."

"Oh well, Tim. Esctasy it is."

The kitchen was pretty empty and surprisingly not smashed up.

There's a memory board on the wall, but with no pictures attached.

There's also a week planner, but there's nothing on it.

This bedroom is completely smashed up, but oddly comes with its own shower cubicle. Not an ensuite bathroom, but an actual cubicle. I've never seen anything like it.

There's a map of America on the floor.

I'm honestly quite baffled by this shower. It's not as if the communual shower is particularly far away. It's a really small bungalow. Did whoever lived here just dislike sharing? And if so, then why does the shower cubicle open out onto a window that's clear and not obscured like a bathroom? Whoever used this shower shared their whole body with anyone who just happened to be walking by at the wrong time of day.

The second bedroom was tiny.

The third bedroom was pretty empty and apart from smashed glass, was pretty tidy. It had a wardrobe in the corner, which still had hangars but not clothes.

Outside, the garage door was been blocked. Someone really wanted to secure this building! Lucky for me, there's a door around the back.

It seems that the mattress was left here when the house was emptied.

And that appears to be that. With the owner of this property located by police, plans are being put forward to demolish it.

It's not a tragic loss, really. It's a fairly non-descript bungalow, with little historic significance, and had the youths been more discreet with their usage of it, they might have had a den for a lot longer. Police attention shut it down, and launched a search for the owner, who seemingly only really pushed ahead for the demolition once he found out what had happened to the place. The landowner wasn't living here, and any posessions left behind must have been unwanted.

The house is in quite a nice neighbourhood though, and the demolition of a smashed up eyesore will only improve it, and lay the potential for future homes.

Thats all I have today. Next time, I'm checking out a fully furnished abandoned house in Shropshire, of tremendous mystery and intrigue, and then I'm back in Shrewsbury for something underground. In the meantime, share this blog where you want, follow my Instagram, like my Facebook, subscribe to my awful Youtube channel and follow my neglected Twitter.

Thanks for reading!