Secret Tunnels Under London: Brunel's Wonder, Mail Rail and a Cold War Bunker

Beneath London's streets, parks and even the River Thames lies another city: a hidden world of tunnels, vaults and shafts. In this episode we go underground: Marc and Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Thames Tunnel, the first tunnel known to have been built successfully under a navigable river; the Great Stink and Joseph Bazalgette's Victorian sewers, where the River Fleet still flows unseen; the Camden Catacombs beneath Camden Market; Mail Rail, the Post Office's driverless underground railway; the Clapham South deep-level shelter, which housed Windrush arrivals in 1948; and the Kingsway telephone exchange, a Cold War exchange hidden beneath Chancery Lane. CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro 0:36 The Eighth Wonder 2:45 Rivers in the Dark 3:52 The Camden Catacombs 4:44 Mail Rail 6:11 Eight Shelters Deep 7:48 The Exchange Beneath Holborn 9:13 London Below SOURCES • Wikipedia: Thames Tunnel; Brunel Museum; Great Stink; London sewer system; River Fleet; Camden Catacombs; London and Birmingham Railway; London Post Office Railway; London deep-level shelters; Clapham South tube station; Kingsway telephone exchange • The Postal Museum, "10 facts about Mail Rail" (postalmuseum.org) • Camden Market, "The Camden Catacombs" (camdenmarket.com) • BBC News, "Going underground: The Windrush arrivals' subterranean dormitories" (21 June 2018) • London Transport Museum, Hidden London tours (ltmuseum.co.uk/hidden-london) IMAGE CREDITS Photos and historical images via Wikimedia Commons, used under their licences: • Christine Westerback (CC BY-SA 2.0): The Horse Tunnels Market - Camden (geograph 2805546) • Doyle of London (CC BY-SA 4.0): Clapham South Deep Tube Shelter (01); Engine House and Chimney, Rotherhithe • ell brown (CC BY-SA 2.0): Camden Market - Horse Tunnel Market - Stables Market • Iconographic Encyclopedia (Brockhaus and Efron) (Public domain): Iconographic Encyclopedia plate 538 • Illustrirte Zeitung, 1843 (Public domain): Brunel leaving the tunnel to cheers; Opening procession through the Thames Tunnel; Tunnel entrance at Rotherhithe • James Northcote (Public domain): Sir Marc Isambard Brunel by James Northcote • John Leech (Public domain): FaradayFatherThames; Father Thames introducing his offspring to the fair city of London • John Pannell from Watford, UK (CC BY 2.0): Kingsway tunnels (4 photos, JPP 7787, 7794, 7806, 7814) • John Wykeham Archer (Public domain): Archer 1855 • kitmasterbloke (CC BY 2.0): 4 photos of Mail Rail cars, sidings and tunnels • Lars Plougmann (CC BY-SA 2.0): Approaching the Wapping end • Lock & Whitfield (Public domain): Joseph Bazalgette by Lock & Whitfield - Original • Matt Brown (CC BY 2.0): 10 photos of Clapham South shelter, the Camden catacombs, the Thames Tunnel and Kingsway exchange buildings • Matt Brown (CC BY 4.0): Eastern Horse Tunnel plaque • Matt Brown from London, England (CC BY 2.0): 6 photos of Mail Rail and the River Fleet sewer • Matthew Prior (CC BY-SA 4.0): London Post Office Railway tunnel loop at Mount Pleasant • Meyer's Universum, 1839 (Public domain): Meyer's Universum vol. 6, plate 35 • Mike Peel (CC BY-SA 4.0): At London 2025 247 • Nathusius2 (CC BY-SA 4.0): Abbey Mills Pumping Station roof detail • Olivvybee (CC BY-SA 4.0): London Post Office Railway 1980 Stock • Paul Hudson from United Kingdom (CC BY 2.0): Clapham South Subterranean Shelter • Pedro Figueiredo (CC BY-SA 2.0): Thames Tunnel 2007-02-14 • Peter Scrimshaw (CC BY-SA 4.0): Crossness IMG5904 • Philafrenzy (CC BY-SA 4.0): Eisenhower Centre, North Crescent, Chenies Street • Popular Graphic Arts (Public domain): The Thames Tunnel LCCN98507755 • Robert Howlett, via the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Public domain): Isambard Kingdom Brunel, 1857 • Royal Navy official photographer (Public domain): HMT Empire Windrush FL9448 • Sam Town (CC BY-SA 2.0): Beds Clapham South Deep Level Shelter 2019-03-22; Top level Clapham South Deep Level Shelter 2019-03-22 • Secretlondon (CC BY-SA 3.0): Brunel Museum Rotherhithe sept 07 • Silvester & Co. (CC BY 4.0): Thames Tunnel cross-section (Wellcome Collection V0040917) • Spudgun67 (CC BY-SA 4.0): Clapham south deep level shelter 2 • steve_w (CC BY 2.0): Camden Catacombs 2009-04-21 • The Illustrated London News (Public domain): The Bursting of the Fleet Ditch • Unknown author (Public domain): Thame Tunnel illustration 1839; Thames tunnel shield • Z22 (CC BY-SA 4.0): Thames Tunnel Shaft interior Images marked "Illustration" are original artwork made for this video: imaginative reconstructions, not historical pictures. Narration and music are original to this video. Subscribe to Hidden Britannia for more of Britain's lost places, strange legends and hidden history. #SecretLondon #LondonUnderground #BritishHistory