Visited with @UrbanZ
History:
The official version is: On the 8th of February 1941, Surrey County Council requisitioned land off Ashley Road, Epsom in order to construct a shelter costing £26,658 (approx £1.3 million today).
This public air raid shelter is one of many built by Surrey Council just before the beginning of WW2. It is similar in design to other shelters, such as Coulsdon, with some sections lined with brick or corrugated steel, and the remaining ones left unlined.
However, there's some conflicting information and even reports of the shelter being built as some sort of Necropolis by a wealthy, and perhaps mentally unstable, Lady Sybil Grant.
There's also another deep level shelter underneath Epsom Downs Golf Course which has been completely sealed off. A group visit obtained permission to dig in the golf course to locate the shelter, but unfortunately due to equipment problems and time restraints, the dig proved unsuccessful. However, they did have some success in that they found the exact location of the entrance. An offer was put to the Golf Club that if they paid for the equipment the dig could resume, but the cost proved too great and the Golf Course never followed it through.
After having been abandoned for many years, Ashley Road tunnels were purchased by and maintained by an airsoft group run by Tom Andrews, who used them for games until fairly recently. Tom allowed many permission visits until he unfortunately passed away earlier this year.
Explore:
This was a spare of the moment explore and, as such, I only had my phone on me to take pictures.
The entrance to this site is quite a sight to behold, being built into a deep ravine accessed via a long passageway cut into the hillside. This was a very enjoyable shelter and in surprisingly good condition.
Once inside you are greeted with a long passageway with a couple of rooms on the right hand side which were used as food stores. At the end of this passage there is a blast wall which diverts you around to the left or right and into the main section of the bunker. This section has a ventilation shaft with a skeleton hanging from rope attached to piping.
Onto the pics...
Map of the shelter.
Inside looking back at the entrance.
First tunnel with food stores on right hand side.
Blast wall.
Canteen area.
Another unlined section.
Thanks for looking!
History:
The official version is: On the 8th of February 1941, Surrey County Council requisitioned land off Ashley Road, Epsom in order to construct a shelter costing £26,658 (approx £1.3 million today).
This public air raid shelter is one of many built by Surrey Council just before the beginning of WW2. It is similar in design to other shelters, such as Coulsdon, with some sections lined with brick or corrugated steel, and the remaining ones left unlined.
However, there's some conflicting information and even reports of the shelter being built as some sort of Necropolis by a wealthy, and perhaps mentally unstable, Lady Sybil Grant.
There's also another deep level shelter underneath Epsom Downs Golf Course which has been completely sealed off. A group visit obtained permission to dig in the golf course to locate the shelter, but unfortunately due to equipment problems and time restraints, the dig proved unsuccessful. However, they did have some success in that they found the exact location of the entrance. An offer was put to the Golf Club that if they paid for the equipment the dig could resume, but the cost proved too great and the Golf Course never followed it through.
After having been abandoned for many years, Ashley Road tunnels were purchased by and maintained by an airsoft group run by Tom Andrews, who used them for games until fairly recently. Tom allowed many permission visits until he unfortunately passed away earlier this year.
Explore:
This was a spare of the moment explore and, as such, I only had my phone on me to take pictures.
The entrance to this site is quite a sight to behold, being built into a deep ravine accessed via a long passageway cut into the hillside. This was a very enjoyable shelter and in surprisingly good condition.
Once inside you are greeted with a long passageway with a couple of rooms on the right hand side which were used as food stores. At the end of this passage there is a blast wall which diverts you around to the left or right and into the main section of the bunker. This section has a ventilation shaft with a skeleton hanging from rope attached to piping.
Onto the pics...
Map of the shelter.
Inside looking back at the entrance.
First tunnel with food stores on right hand side.
Blast wall.
Canteen area.
Another unlined section.
Thanks for looking!
