Most of us pass by the Clifton
Rocks Railway without even knowing it is there. Constructed with
great difficulty inside the cliffs of the Avon Gorge in order to
reduce its visual impact on the picturesque surroundings, this
funicular railway operated for 40 years against diminishing
trade. Its closure before WWII did not mark the end of its
useful life as it became a secret transmission base for the BBC
(see
also David
Pearce’s recollections).

Photo: Lower station
Photo by Nick Catford
Behind the entrance is a tunnel
cut through the rock which extends at a steep angle to emerge in
the now derelict small triangle of ground between the junction
of Princes Lane and Sion Hill, adjacent to the Avon Gorge Hotel.
Within this triangle of ground is the upper Station which has
long since fallen into a state of disrepair. The tunnel itself
forms a straight and direct connection between the upper and
lower stations. A Description Of The Original Railway. The
tunnel is 500 feet long, semi elliptical in cross section with a
roof height of 18 feet and a width of 27 feet 6 inches it climbs
a vertical distance of 240 feet on a rising gradient of about
1:2.2, that is a vertical rise of 1 foot for every 2.2 feet of
forward travel. The tunnel was blasted and cut through badly
faulted limestone and was brick lined in almost its entirety
with a wall thickness of 2 feet
Although the tunnel was lit by
daylight at both top and bottom, this was supplemented by gas
lamps installed down the tunnel length. From the surface, the
upper station appears to be a small single storey building,
triangular in plan, with a facade of ashlar bath stone faced
masonry construction facing Princes Lane and the Avon Gorge. The
Sion Hill elevation consisted of iron railings between masonry
piers: the railings are now covered with sheets of boarding.
There are two entrances to the upper station, one at the
junction of Princes Lane and Sion Hill, the other onto Sion Hill
itself. The Sion Hill entrance had an ornamental iron arch over.
A visitor would descend down steps from either entrance to the
top station into a small platform which was below upper street
level. In fact the platform extends under the pavement in Sion
Hill, and a series of small arched roof vaults between the rock
face and a substantial steel beam, itself supported on cast iron
columns, support the pavement of the street above. The remainder
of the 15 feet wide platform which is not recessed under the
pavement was covered with an awning of small glass panels set in
iron frames (pavement lights) forming a floor on which
sightseers could stand and take in the view, or watch the cars
ascending and descending the tunnel. Most of these glass panels
are still in place, but the grid of supporting steelwork in
which they are mounted is in poor condition. At the head of the
tunnel was a timber screen, pay box and turnstiles, together
with the two large pulley wheels described later.
The lower station itself is
constructed inside the rock, and was finished with the facade
erected flush with the rock face. This facade was of rubble
construction using grey pennant stone, locally mined and used
extensively in the less expensive houses being built in Bristol
in the 1800's. Quoins and architraves were of bath stone with
three decorative gargoyles above the three entrance arches, the
two windows, one on either side remaining undecorated. A
verandah was originally incorporated but was later removed, the
six smaller arches of the upper floor being retained as picture
windows giving a superb view across the river, with a tiled
timber canopy above to provide shade. The building behind this
facade was of two storeys and the ground floor consisted of two
rooms. One contained the turnstiles and pay box (now removed)
set in a floor of red 6 inch tiles. The walls of this room were
lined from floor to ceiling with vertical pine matchboarding.
The other room was undecorated and contained the pumping
machinery. On the second floor was situated a small toilet
installed in September, 1894 and some staff facilities. A later
addition above the entrance portals were three bath stone
lintels with the legend 'Clifton Rocks Railway' carved in stone.
From the day that it opened the
line was operated by four cars. Each car consisted of an upper
passenger section, with a triangular chassis angled to suit the
gradient of the tunnel. The upper passenger section resembled in
appearence the horse-drawn tramcars to be found operating during
the 1890s on the City tramway, and are believed to have been
constructed in Birmingham by Starbruck who built tramcars for
the City. Each car could accommodate 18 seated passengers and
had sliding doors at either end, the door at the end facing the
river opening onto a small platform on which the 'brakesman' or
attendant rode alongside the brake control. Cars were painted
light blue and white with gold lining when new, but were later
re-painted in colours similar to the Bristol Tramway Company.
The cars were mounted by four leaf springs onto the chassis
which were built by Messrs Gimsons of Leicester. These four
chassis were part of a batch of six ordered on 7 March 1892 and
delivered in December, 1892. The balance of the order was for
the Bridgenorth/Castle-Hill Railway, those for the Clifton Rocks
being designated by a C prefix on the detail drawing. The
Bridgenorth equipment had a wider guage at 3 ft 8 ins. The
chassis were constructed of 8 in by 3 in steel channel section
14 ft 6 in long, carried on four wheels. The only item not
manufactured at Leicester within the chassis were the axles
which were supplied by J.H. Lloyd and Co. The axles ran in brass
bearings fitted onto cast iron housings bolted onto the top side
of the bottom chassis member. The cars were handed left and
right.
Cars ran in pairs on adjacent
tracks of 75-80 lbs/yd flat bottom rail. These rails were bolted
directly onto concrete cross sleepers the width of the tunnel at
5 feet spacing firmly bedded in the rock bed of the tunnel, The
gauge of the railway was 3 feet and each pair of tracks either
side of the tunnel were at 5 feet 6 inch centres.
Each pair of carriages was
connected together via two steel wire cables 'being 30 times
stronger than the load that has to be put upon them' which
turned around large pulley wheels at the top of the tunnel. The
principle behind the operation of the cars is known as 'water
balance'. As one car ran down its rail its companion car would
be pulled up, the weight of the water plus passengers in the
descending car overbalancing the weight of the passengers in the
ascending car. Mounted in the frames beneath each passenger
section was a tank of 12 gauge steel bolted on 3 inch x 1.5 inch
rolled steel joists and fitted with a lid of 18 gauge steel. At
the beginning of a journey, releasing the brakes on both cars
allowed the top car to descend, pulling the bottom car up in
doing so. Equipped with all "mod cons", an electric telegraph
manufactured by King, Mendham & Co. of Bristol, permitted the
brakesman of the car at the bottom to inform his opposite number
in the car at the top of the number of passengers to be raised.
By this means, the correct weight of water required to balance
the load could be added to the top car. If the ascending car was
empty, then the weight of passengers in the descending car (if
full) was sufficient to activate the system without the water
tank being filled. Upon completion of the journey and whilst the
passengers disembarked, water in the tank of the car at the base
of the incline was automatically emptied into a sump before
being pumped back up to a reservoir at the head of the incline
by duplicate sets of pumps powered by self starting "Otto cycle"
gas engines manufactured by Crossley of Manchester. The water
which was employed to operate the line was therefore used over
and over again, the cost of the motive power for working that
required to drive the gas engines for pumping the water.
The design of the system showed
a great concern for safety: some might describe the design as
'belt, braces, piece of string and the Royal Air Force'. This is
amply demonstrated in the superb braking systems which were
arranged 'such as to satisfy the requirements of the most
nervous of passengers'. Duplicate brakes were incorporated,
operated by hydraulic pressure and acting on both sides of the
rails of the line. Another set of duplicate brakes were
incorporated for arresting the speed should the cars for any
undue cause exceed their proper pace and a third set of
duplicate brakes were also incorporated for automatically
stopping the cars should either of the other two systems fail,
or should the two steel ropes break at the same time.
The hydraulic brakes acting
upon the rails were the ones controlled by the brakesmen. They
were designed such that the brakesmen had to give their
attention to prevent the car from stopping, rather than trying
to make the car stop. Thus, should one brakesman become careless
or lose his hold of the brake windlass handle, both of the cars
would immediately stop, even though the brakesman upon one of
them might be unaware of the problems which had befallen his
companion, The hydraulic brake mechanism consisted of hydraulic
rams acting into cast iron blocks which gripped the rails in a 'callipe'
action. The rams were connected by copper tubes to much larger
master cylinders, the hydraulic fluid being water. Pressure on
the system was applied by heavy weights acting on the top of
pistons in the master cylinders. The weights were directly
connected to the conductor's windlass hand wheel. The act of
turning the windlass hand wheel would raise the weight from the
top of the master cylinder reducing the pressure in the system
and hence the grip of the cast iron blocks on the rails. Should
either conductor release his hold on the handle for any reason,
the weights would automatically drop back under gravity,
increasing the pressure in the system, applying the brakes and
bringing both cars to a halt.
The speed governing brake acted
independently of the controlling brake to cause the hydraulic
pressure to be increased and the rails to be gripped should the
recommended speed be exceeded. How it worked is not clear, but
from the general specification it appears to have been operated
by means of an eccentric on the lower axle. The third system of
brakes which would operate in the event of a cable failure was
completely automatic. It consisted of two large cast iron wedges
with serrated faces mounted inside either rail, on the ends of
steel anus, both of which were pivoted on a heavy steel cross
member. Both ends of the cross member enclosed the rails. The
free ends of the arms were attached to the two cables, and a
large coil spring was incorporated held under compression by the
tension in the ropes. In the event of a cable failure, the load
on the spring would be released and the spring would pivot the
arm jamming the wedge between rail and cross member. Deflection
of the rail was prevented by the outer ends of the cross member.
Thus the design incorporated fail-safe systems which were made
simple and which were also duplicated throughout the assembly: a
very reliable design concept.
At the time of construction,
the tunnel was the widest of its kind in the World. Being brick
lined, the timbering necessary to provide temporary support
during construction was built in above the bricks, which
incidentally were set in cement. Construction of the tunnel
started from both ends and from intermediate shafts down its
length. Steam power was used to provide compressed air for the
rock drills for hauling away excavated rock, and was the power
for the pumps used in draining the workings from the ever
present seepage of surface water. Considerable difficulties were
encountered with the tunnelling due to the faulting in the
limestone, and rock falls (both inside and outside of the
tunnel) were a constant source of worry and delay. Even as late
as six weeks before the opening, a rock fall of some 20 tons
down the outside of the rock face on the 31st of January, 1893
demolished a portion of the miniature wooden verandah which
formed part of the design for the bottom entrance to the
railway, just missing a City bound horse-tram that was passing.
Apart from the looseness of the rock causing problems in the
construction, the limestone in some cases was found to be so
conglomerated with other metalliferous rock 'as to break the
drills and turn the edges of the tools that were used for
boring'.
The scaffolding of the tunnel
was a matter of great difficulty to the contractor, and the
greatest caution was necessary when erecting the complicated
centre pieces and when placing in position the immense amount of
timber required as struts for the roof and sides of the cutting.
On account of the steep incline, it was impossible to arrange
gangs of men to work one above the other simultaneously, and it
was veiy difficult to provide for the dislodging of the material
above without choking the entrance below. Intermediate shafts
were used to remove dislodged rock via winding engines and
machinery erected above the ground. Men were brought from Canada
to operate the pneumatic machines as suitably skilled labour was
not available in Britain. There was considerable difficulty in
keeping the men at work for more than a few weeks at a time,
various accidents causing them to become nervous. The work
originally scheduled to be completed in 12 months, actually took
two years to finish, but great celebration occurred when H. C.
Hayes, the Contractor's 10 year old son, squeezed through the
hole when the two headings joined and found the shafts lined up
perfectly. Construction costs had been anticipated at £10,000,
but in fact with all the problems, costs rose to over £30,000.
Timetable of Operation The
following is a timetable of operations dated January, 1922,
which was almost identical with that of the first week of
operations:
1 June - 30 Sept Weekdays 8.30
am - 10.00 pm & Sundays 2.30 pm-10.OOpm
1 October - 31 May Weekdays
8.30 am - 9.00 pm & Sundays 2.30 pm- 9.00 pm
By September, 1928 the
timetable had become:
All year round Weekdays 8.45 am
- 9.15 pm & Sundays 2.3Opm- 9.l5pm
In the mid to late 19th
Century, Clifton, Bristol and Hotwells, were considered as
separate. Clifton was a posh area. Hotwells, no longer a spa
attraction was very down market, the River Avon a stinking open
sewer, and the inhabitants including a substantial number of
lower class drunken mariners due to the abundance of ships in
the harbour. The residents of Clifton really did not
particularly want ready access to their domain made available to
the surrounding population. For some time they even resisted
having trams use their streets. This then was the back drop to
the conception of the Clifton Rocks Railway. The only way to get
from Hotwells to Clifton was via a variety of steep hills, such
as the zig zag path which remains with us today, or Granby Hill.
Thus the Clifton Rocks Railway owed its existence to the self
imposed isolation of the elegant and fashionable residential
area of Clifton from the developing public transport system of
the City of Bristol.
Historical Diary
23rd July 1880. Mr George
White, founder of the Bristol Tramway Company and later founder
of the Bristol Aeroplane Company made an alternative proposal
for an inclined railway fom the north end of the Suspension
Bridge down the face of the Avon Gorge to Hotwells. Here a
connection would be made with the City Tramway, with the
Hotwells terminus of the Bristol Port & Pier Railway and its
services to Beach and other suburbs of Bristol, and with the
Hotwells landing stage from which P & A Campbells and others
operated their pleasure steamers to the exotic charms of
Ilfracombe and the South Wales ports. Such a project was
rejected by the Society of Merchant Venturers, owners of the
cliffs, probably because they thought it would be such an
eyesore.
27 September, 1889. A similar
application from a Mr Kincaid was also rejected by the Society
of Merchant Venturers.
26 September, 1890. A proposal
was placed before the Society from Mr George Newnes MP for an
inclined lift from Hotwells Road to the garden of no. 14 Princes
Buildings. Princes Buildings is the row of houses which now
incorporates the Avon Gorge Hotel. This time the proposal was
for a railway running not up the cliff face, but through the
rock in a tunnel. The Society of Merchant Venturers, being
prepared to consider this scheme, resolved to confer with
Engineers.
The promoter, George Newnes,
was a Member of Parliament for Newmarket. Cambridgeshire, from
1891 to 1895, founder of the Newnes Publishing Company and was
created a Baronet in 1895. His country residence at Hollerday
Hill, Lynton, Devon, brought him into contact with the Lynton/Lynmouth
Cliff Railway, and a business association began between Mr
Newnes and the eminent Engineer who was responsible for the
Lynton/Lynmouth Cliff Railway and similar projects elsewhere,
namely Mr G Croydon Marks AMICE, MIME. The Architects appointed
for the project were Philip Monroe & Sons of Baldwin Street,
Bristol and the Civil Engineering Contractor Messrs C A Hayes of
Thomas Street, Bristol were employed to carry out the
construction of the tunnel.
The Society of Merchant
Venturers evidently were only prepared to consider the
construction of the tunnel and railway, providing that Mr Newnes
also tried to resurrect Clifton as a spa town by constructing a
Hydropathic Institute (The Spa) adjacent to the proposed upper
station. The total cost of the railway was estimated at £10,000
and Mr. Newnes was the sole financier for the venture.
31 October 1890. The Society of
Merchant Venturers resolved to consent to the project on the
following terms: (a)That rents would be raised. (b) That the
works should be finished by January, 1893. (c) That no
alteration should be made to the exterior elevations of the
buildings to be constructed, and that they should be used for no
other purposes than permitted at the Bath Pump Room. (d) No
licence for liquor (e) That the road adjacent to Princes
Buildings should not be obstructed (Princes Lane). (1) That no
blasting should take place between 7.00 pm and 7.00 am.
7 March, 1891 Lady Wathen, Wife
of the Lord Mayor, Sir Charles Wathen, fired the first shot for
the tunnel excavation, an event that was accompanied by the
usual luncheon and speeches. After a difficult and expensive
construction operation which had not been anticipated, the
railway was ready for opening considerably later than had at
first been planned. Early Operations
11 March, 1893 was the date of
the official opening of the Clifton Rocks Railway. 6,220 people
made the return journey and the promoters of the project must
have felt greatly heartened by the way in which the public took
to their development. In the opening period around 11,000
passengers per week were carried, 427,492 passengers in the
first 12 months of operation. Unfortunately this was really the
peak of operations for the railway and numbers subsequently
declined steadily.
The ticket for the first
travellers opening day was a commemorative gilded metal
medallion in the shape of a Maltese cross having on one side a
representation of one of the cars together with the initials of
the promoter, engineer and architect. On the reverse was a
commemorative inscription.
27 October, 1893 The Society of
Merchant Venturers, being notified that the railway had been
operating for six months, resolve that the Deeds be executed in
favour of Mr Newnes for a period of 999 years, with a Covenant
under which the lessee must maintain the tunnel in proper
repair.
Spring 1894. Mr Newnes formed
the Clifton Rocks Railway Co. Ltd to operate the line. Chairman
of the Board was Mr Newnes himself with Mr Croydon Marks a
Co-Director along with P. Fussell and A Yeatman (Company
Secretary). Solicitors for the company were Osborne, Ward,
Vassall & Co Bristol. To this company was leased the tunnel for
an annual rental of £50 subject to covenants requiring the
company to maintain the tunnel with the lines, stations, etc.,
fit for use as a railway tunnel.
1903. A dispute arose between
the City of Bristol (Plaintiffs) and the Clifton Rocks Railway
Co Ltd (Defendants). The City claimed that the Clifton Rocks
Railway occupied land which was owned by the City. This was a
small triangle of land which included The Hot Well pump within
the same parcel and was situated at the lower station, on the
side most remote from Cumberland Basin. The infringement of the
tunnel on this piece of land was no more than 10 feet at the
absolute maximum. The Clifton Rocks Railway Co. replied that
they thought they owned the land, but the lost their case and
had to pay a small sum to the City in compensation, The Decline
1908. The steady decline of
passengers took their toll and a receiver was appointed.
29 November, 1912. The
railway's assets were bought outright by the Bristol Tramway and
Carriage Co, for the sum of £1,500.
5 July, 1913. The Royal Show
was held on Durdham Downs and during a 'flash in the pan' surge
of use, 14,500 people used the railway during the week prior to
this date.
1922 The Portway road was
widened. This involved the closure and demolition of the Bristol
Port & Pier Railway from Sneyd Park junction up to and include
the Hotwells terminus, which must have been a good connection
for the Rocks Railway, being situated just a few hundred yards
away, in the Avonmouth direction. A major road was now placed
only inches from the bottom station which made access most
difficult.
1 October, 1934. After
continued deficits, the Clifton Rocks Railway finally closed,
the four cars being lowered to the bottom station. 1937. Bristol
Corporation received an interest in the tunnel via the Bristol
Transport Act 1937.
Use of the Tunnel During the
Second World War
At the outbreak of the Second
World War the Ministry of Works and Buildings took a tenancy of
the tunnel from the Tramways Company at a rent of £100 per annum
subject to conditions which required the Office of Works to
indemnify the Tramways Company against any breach of the
covenants in the lease under which the Tramways Company held the
property.
25 March, 1940. British
Overseas Airways constructed an office suite and used part of
the upper section of the tunnel for storage. Control of the
tunnel came under the ARP (Air Raid Precaution) Committee which
later became the Civil Defence Committee during the War, where
they established shelter number 1898.
The BBC needed to keep
broadcasting through the Second World War to try to distract an
estimated audience of up to six million people away from the
blatant propaganda of William Joyce, an American born, English
educated fascist whose exaggerated upper class accent soon
earned him the nickname 'Lord Haw Haw.' The Nazis had craftily
set up what they called a 'British Forces Service' which had
dance music interspersed with news. Military Chiefs who, prior
to the War were demanding that the BBC be closed down if and
when War broke out were beginning to see the sense in keeping
the BBC on the air, and some sophisticated technical changes
were made to prevent BBC transmitters becoming beacons which
would guide enemy aircraft to their targets. The BBC had to face
up to the fact that Broadcasting House might be badly damaged by
bombs or even taken over by invading Nazis. They decided to set
up an emergency headquarters in Bristol, capable of handling
programme production if the need arose. Since however, this
station too could have come under attack, the search began for
bomb proof premises. The disused railway tunnel of the Bristol
Port & Pier Railway was ear marked. Despite the emergency
situation, in a true blue act of eccentricity, the BBC,
incredibly, sent its symphony orchestra consisting of nearly 100
members, to play in the proposed tunnel under the baton of the
famous Sir Adrian Boult, with a view to checking the acoustics.
One can only presume that the BBC wanted to ensure that even if
Britain was about to be completely and utterly destroyed, radio
listeners should not be denied broadcasted symphony concerts of
the highest quality whilst the bombs dropped around them. The
maestro reported favourably. Unfortunately the delay incurred in
adopting these procedures had upset the BBC's plans. The
Director General went in person to inspect the tunnel, but the
Nazi Air Force beat him to it and after a series of heavy raids,
local people were occupying the tunnel for shelter. The Director
General took a typically British view and at once decided that
it would be impossible now to occupy the tunnel. The BBC had
already considered the use of the Rocks Railway Tunnel but had
rejected it due to the anticipated difficulties of coping with
the steep incline. Circumstances now dictated that they should
construct their alternative base here.
July 1941. The BBC intended
erecting structures in the tunnel which would constitute a
breach of covenant. A Clerk to Bristol City Council opened
negotiations with all interested parties with a view to vesting
in the Bristol Corporation 999 leasehold title free from all
covenants which would prevent the use of a tunnel for other
purposes. At this stage the structures which had already been
erected in the tunnel by the Ministry of Works constituted a
breach of covenant.
The result of negotiations was
that the Tramway Co assigned their leasehold interest to the
Bristol Corporation free of charge. The Society of Merchant
Venturers released their right to enforce the covenants as to
keeping the tunnel for railway purposes also free of charge.
However, the Society still required that the entrances to the
upper and lower stations should be kept in good repair, the
Ministry having sole use of the upper entrance for which they
were solely liable for keeping in repair. The BBC and Bristol
Corporation were jointly liable for the bottom entrance. The
Grand Hotel Company who by then held the original lease to Mr
Newnes, and who were entitled to the rent of £50 per annum
payable by the Tramway Company, were only prepared to sell their
interest and release the covenants. Their asking price of £1,500
was met by contributions from the Ministry of Works and
Buildings of £800, the BBC £400, and the balance of £300 coming
from the City Corporation. The Grand Hotel Company continued to
impose covenants covering nuisance, interference or damage to
the amenities of the Hotel, and their title to the land at
either station. Upon completion of the transfers to the Bristol
Corporation, a lease was granted to the BBC for a period of 21
years at a nominal rent of 1 shilling for the bottom portion of
the tunnel, and part of the bottom station, free from any
liability to reinstate the tunnel at the end of the tenancy.
24 February 1941 Work proceeded
on the BBC installation alongside the negotiations.
28 February 1941 The four
carriages were removed from the tunnel, this part of the
conversion being subcontracted to the Bristol Tramway Co. Within
three months there had been constructed within the tunnel four
large chambers, one above the other, with three smaller chambers
being provided at ground level. The total cost of the conversion
was about £10,000, of which £6,000 could be attributed to
construction work.
Description of the BBC
Installation
Top Room: Transmitters Various
transmitters were incorporated in this room. One served Bristol
with programmes whilst two others were set up o keep the station
in touch with the outside World in an extreme emergency. The
largest transmitter was an American RCA 'H' group transmitter
operating on 203.5 m and broadcasting the home service. This had
been brought over from America on lend lease in the early days
of the War. The other two consisted of a Harvey McNamara
shortwave set, and an ex RAF medium wave transmitter for
restoring communication between the other main provincial and
metropolitan broadcasting stations should the Post Office
telephone lines be damaged by enemy action.

Photo: The BBC Studio
Photo by Nick Catford
Second Chamber Down: Studio
This was equipped with piano, gramophone and other facilities
for musical, dramatic or school's programmes and could take a
cast of 10-15 actors. Poor acoustics were accommodated by
installing heavy carpets and providing strategically placed
quilting on the walls. Small scale musical, dramatic or feature
programmes could be produced in this room
The Third Chamber Down:
Recording Room This room contained a Philips-Miller record and
replay machine which used gelatine coated celluloid film 7mm
wide, onto which recordings were cut with a sapphire stylus.
Also within this room were sufficient programmes for many weeks
of broadcasting.
Fourth Chamber Down: Control
Room Here the BBC Engineers surpassed themselves in compressing
an enormous amount of equipment into a very small space. The
room incorporated switching gear for no fewer than 80 land lines
leading to outside stations. The Post Office routed these in
various formations to minimise the risk of a single bomb
damaging all in one go.
The Three Smaller Rooms at
Lower Ground Floor Level These rooms held emergency diesel
generators, a special forced ventilation plant in which full
precautions were taken against gas attacks, and a canteen
containing sufficient food and water for several weeks.
Exterior An aerial was strung
from the tunnel head to the Grand Spa Hotel. At the lower level
station the main entrances and windows were blocked, and
ventilation ducts were installed externally.
Throughout the Control Room was
manned day and night, transferring countless thousands of
programmes in many different languages to various transmitters.
However, the emergency studio never had to be used. Just in
case, whenever the bombs began to fall on Bristol during the
War, key programme staff used to pile into an armoured Dodge
Shooting Break car and make a dash to the tunnel where they
would stand by to go on the air if required. Thankfully, the
main studios at BBC Bristol were never silenced, but the
usefulness of the Control Room alone fully justified the work
which had gone into the conversion of the railway tunnel.
After the War
30 July, 1946. The War was over
and the BBC had reviewed its transmitter and studio capacity,
and was ready to terminate its tenancy and remove all of it's
equipment, except for the heating lighting and ventilation
plant. The ventilation plant had cost £1,600 to install and
would cost £104 to remove. The Bristol Corporation were prepared
to purchase all this plant for the sum of £5 in exchange for no
claim being made for reinstatement in respect of the premises.
Ideas had been mooted to retain the station as a museum piece.
28 August 1946. International
trouble arose over the use of the 514 m waveband, and to comply
meant reducing power on all main transmitters, and boosting the
signal using local transmitters. Thus the Bristol transmitter
was retained as a local booster station.
October 1946. The Ministry of
Works' lease was surrendered.
1955. The tunnel was becoming a
drain on the BBC's operating costs, the annual rates alone being
£549. A new lease was therefore negotiated by the BBC for
accommodation in the upper part of the tunnel, incorporating the
landing or upper platform at the head of the tunnel, together
with a right of access through the entrance on Sion Hill,
adjoining the Hotel, and together with the right to place and
maintain a 40 foot aerial mast and hut above the premises, the
mast to be stayed at three points. The BBC took on this lease
for ten years at a rental of £10 per annum exclusive of rates,
whilst the original lease for the bottom section was surrendered
at the same time. This turned out to be a timely withdrawal from
the bottom section as defects were about to be found at the base
of the construction.
1956. Cracks were noticed
between the masonry of the lower station facade and the face of
the limestone cliffs. Further inspection showed that a crack
some 4 inches wide had also opened up in the brick lining to the
tunnel immediately behind the facade. Tubular steel scaffolding
was used to shore up the facade and the slope behind the facade
was cleared of loose rock and earth and a total of some 1,000
cubic yards of material was removed. The dense growth of
vegetation on the cliff path steps behind the portal was also
cleared. The facade of the railway changed in appearance at this
stage, with a considerable quantity of the high level side
masonry being removed.
August 1957. A W Skempton DSC
MICE, and D I Henkel PhD AIvIICE, eminent Engineers specialising
in soil mechanics were employed by the Bristol City Engineer to
give advice on the measures that should be taken to ensure the
stability of the tunnel facade and the cliffs at this point in
the Avon Gorge.
Many of the walls built to
retain the earth of the terraces over the Rocks Railway tunnel
showed signs of movement These walls had been constructed before
the tunnel had been built and cracks now were particularly
marked where walls crossed the line of the tunnel. To obtain
information about the site, boreholes were sunk. The boreholes
confirmed that a layer of clay about 5 feet thick was sandwiched
between layers of limestone rock, the strata dipping steeply
downwards towards the Cumberland Basin. The boreholes would not
hold water and it was concluded that the tunnel was acting as a
drain removing water which was collecting above the clay layer.
A considerable area of the tunnel was very wet.
January 1958. It was
recommended that a series of tied buttresses be constructed
along the face of the tunnel in Hotwell Road. These buttresses
were constructed from rolled steel sections encased in concrete
and the whole assembly was anchored to the cliff using rock
inclined anchors connecting the top of the assembly down into
the rock behind Additionally, a series of drainage boreholes
were specified through the clay layer above the tunnel, to be
backfihled with gravel to ensure drainage of the upper limestone
rock in the area of potential instability.
24 March 1960. With changes
brought about by advances in technology, the radio station
became redundant and the BBC's lease determined.

Photo: The Pump Room
Photo by Nick Catford
Since 1960. The Pump Room was
used from time to time as a store, but except for the passage of
telephone cables, no permanent use has yet been found for the
tunnel and stations.
Present Status
The top station is in poor
condition with the original station layout disturbed by the
subsequent modifications which have been introduced. A false
roof of fibreboard covered with asphalt has collapsed into the
station leaving a skeletal timber framework.
The tunnel itself is wet in
places due to seepage, but the majority of the brick lining is
in good condition considering its age. The track bed has been
almost entirely built over. Two staircases 4 feet 6 inches wide
have been constructed against either side rail of the tunnel
from top to bottom. Both staircases have treads constructed from
precast concrete units. The centre channel between the two
staircases is separated from them by solid brick walls. There
are also a number of cross walls dividing up the centre channel
into compartments. In the upper parts of the tunnel these areas
give the impression of steep narrow cinemas with tiered
platforms rising up the slope of the tunnel between the two
walls dividing the centre section from the staircases on either
side. Further down, the BBC modifications are in poor condition,
with most of the timber floors having disintegrated. It is
estimated that in excess of 27,000 cubic feet of brick and
concrete are now resident inside the tunnel.
The bottom station still
contains the BBC's ventilation plant and the configuration of
the rooms is virtually as original. However, the arches that
once led to the verandah have been bricked up save only for
small openings at the top of each arch into which the open ends
of the BBC air ducts once fitted. Unfortunately, the
stabilisation work necessary to prevent further leaning of the
facade towards the Portway has severely disfigured its elegant
architecture.
Future Use
Many ideas have been
forthcoming on the utilisation of this fascinating relic of
yesteryear. In all cases, the costs of providing the necessary
conversion work far outweigh the returns. There is perhaps
something to commend the idea of leaving it alone so that it can
remain virtually unnoticed except by the few who have discovered
its charms. It seems that the tunnel is almost certain to
remain, in economic terms, what it has always been: an
eccentric, exciting white elephant ...?
Sub Brit site visit 16th
September 2001
[Source:
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.

Photo: The tiered air raid
shelter seating
Photo by Nick Catford
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 bare 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
Those taking part in the visit
were
Nick Catford,
Robin Ware, Keith Ward, Robin Cherry, Andrew Smith, Tony Page,
Richard Challis, Terry White, Ross Floyd and Matthew Beasant.
History Page details courtesy of
Subrit
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