1880 Channel Tunnel Attempt - 29/3/9 - Revisitited 14.11.10

[Ryda]

This is the 1880 bore attempt for the Channel Tunnel situated at Abbots Cliff, midway between Folkestone and Dover.
A quick bit of history for you:

In the 19th Century, serious proposals were beginning to arise on both sides of the channel for a tunnel linking England and France together. The attempts on the English side were unsuccessful, mostly due to the tunnels flooding. This is one of two test bores, the other in 1881 at Shakespeare cliff. The tunnel was expected to be completed by 1886 however only 2 years on from the initial bore in 1880, very little progress had been made and the whole project was cast aside and abandoned in 1898. The British Government had decided a tunnel linking England to Europe left the country vulnerable to attack.

In hindsight that 16 years on WW1 had begun, it shows that the decision to scrap the plans was the right one.

Pictures:

Getting ready to go in


Sleeper lined low tunnel leading towards the bore


Silhouette of myself


Looking down the bore


I took a walk down the bore some way however the air is not of the greatest quality and for your own health it is not advised that you spend too long down there, Water was beginning to become a problem also and wellies were definitely a must!

I'll save anybody the time of trying to find a hole in the cliff for this tunnel or digging through the chalk yourself to find it - It was with permission that I gained access of this tunnel system & I am very thankful.
Cheers for looking - comments welcomed.

R

[ERNIE99_UK]

Cool. glad they didnt succeed as itve been an invasion problem in ww2.

[KingElvis]

That's an amazing thread, I would like to see that myself.

Isn't the tunnel going in the wrong direction for France?

[beam assisted]

Amazing mate. Well done for finding this place and gaining permission to be there. And thank you for sharing

[Rochester]

Love all this Dover stuff of late.. Spot on fella.

[coops]

Wow thats brill ...thanks for sharing ..Dover gets better n better

[ceejam]

Quality stuff there fella

[Ryda]

I believe kingelvis, it was going to be like a loop, following round and then going out into the dover strait.
The photo's aren't of the greatest quality as for some stupid reason I saved them as low res Jpegs - at least they give some documentation.

[MJS]

good work mate! interesting stuff

[captain cave man]

hmmmmmm how long underground does it go and how far did you go !, need to get to her far reaches i think !, was there any air flow ? and how bad was the water as it does not look that bad to me !.....nice pics but wanna see more .....

Hmmmmm "the air is not of the greatest quality and for your own health it is not advised that you spend too long down there" how bad? gasses (should not be much if at all) or just poor oxygen levels...did you use a 4gas or something to check......