Report - chiselhurst caves group visit 23/1/2010 pic heavy

[tommo]

well this is one that i have read about and wanted to see for ages

so back at the arse end of 2009, i shot an email of to the caves requesting something different, not expecting to much they responded witht he offer of an extended group visit, behind the scenes do what we like tour

so i fired some more emails of and got a nice little group together, sorry for the couple i had hiccups with ( maniac) we arranged the time and date but forgot to get back to u on what to wear and kit needed, it wasnt easy keeping in contact with 20+ peeps,

but any way, spungletrumpet offered to let me share his ride, picking me up at 6.30 ish lol we headed over to the caves, must of been a good night before as i feel asleep on the way there

all meeting up at 10.00 in the car park, diehard cooking breakfast was so funny, it was nice to see 95% of who was invited turn up, it was a conversion of darkplaces,28days and derelict place guys, half had never meet the other half and some where new to us all, but saying that every one got on great and the atmosphere was really good, we even found time to lark about :crazy

taggin along was me, spungletrumpet,urbanjunkey,turker,pirate,datsun,evil genius,bonecollector, root,madrab,boxhead,walrus,maggot,milesfinch,petzl,brickman,diehardlove,coventry,bigherbie,canute,

not all where present in the group pic

heading in to the caves with our guide glenn, he gaves the best health and safety briefing to date " its dangerous " and thats was it, took all of 1 second and we where off,i think that and at the end was the only time i saw him, we where allowed to go where we liked basically as long as we didnt get lost and sort of followed him, so apologies for not hearing what he had to say, so some of the pics i havent got a clue where we where or what the history was in that part


some history of the site and form what i believe all that u read is not true, its not 20 miles of passages its more like 4 miles and a large section is used by a group that do alot of role playing games Labyrinthe Club | Live Role-Playing | LRP Club | LARP Club - Live Action Role Playing - Venue/Contacts but it was basically londons biggest air raid shelter during ww2 as well as being saxon, roman sites the site is here http://www.chislehurstcaves.co.uk/ also some films where shot here over the years see below

Chislehurst Caves are a labyrinth of dark mysterious passageways which have been hewn by hand from the chalk, deep beneath Chislehurst. There are over 20 miles of caverns and passageways, dug over a period of 8000 years. The vast complex of caves are a maze of ancient mines originally carved out in the search for flint and chalk. They are divided into three main sections, Saxon, Druid and Roman. Each section was later connected by digging joining passages.The presence of chalk has been important to civilisations over thousands of years, and still is to date. Mining chalk provides Lime and FlintLime is the basic for plaster and whitewash paint, flint was used for manufacturing tools by early man and later for building. The mining activity is difficult to date however the mines appear on a charter circa 1250 and also in local church records of 1737.The last time the mines were known to have been worked was around the 1830's when the Saxon section was used by a flintmaker and limeburner.
The local railway made the mines more accessable in 1865, and this aided its formation as a tourist attraction. The caves also became the setting for several underground concerts in the early 1900's. During the 1914 World War the mines became part of Woolwich Arsenal, used as an ammunitions depot. A narrow gauge railway was installed to aid the transport through the passages. Up until the outbreak of the Second World War the mines were used by the Kent Mushroom Company.The war and the constant bombings over London turned the caves into a massive air raid shelter within easy reach from London and its main suburbs. The Caves are also used as a film location and have been used by the BBC and independent film companies. "Doctor Who and the Mutants" with John Pertwee, Insemenoid, Bliss, Neverwhere and Randall & Hopkirk (deceased) have all been filmed at the caves. Most of the subterranean scenes in the popular BBC series "Merlin" were also filmed here.

 

[tommo]

so here we go

air raid shelter ticket office

map of the site showing all the different periods

tables of lanterns i think where used for the tours, but we where armed with about 20 tesco torches and a couple of scurions

stone carvings

stage area for all the entertainment

one of the 3 canteens on site

ww2 cinema for 200 peeps

another canteen

hospital

the first citizens advice bureau

 

[diehardlove]

tommo nice pics mate,
what was so funny about my breakfast no only kidding if id have seen it from a outside view id have pissed myself too was a very good weekend could not have been with a nicer group no matter what forum they was off,thats funy as fuck coventry is not his user name just the name i know him by as lives there lol dont even know his real name
thanks again tommo and thanks to all the lads,whos the bloke with the hammer he was funny,

 

[Styru]

Nice one.

At first glance the bloke on the far left (the one holding the gun) looks a little heavily armed for caving


- one look at that view and the Met. Police would have shot him before realising it was only his bag

.

 

[spungletrumpet]

At first glance the bloke on the far left (the one holding the gun) looks a little heavily armed for caving

Nah, that's quite normal for Root..
It's his way of making sure that us 28DL reprobates don't misbehave underground.

 

[pirate]

Nice one.

At first glance the bloke on the far left (the one holding the gun) looks a little heavily armed for caving


.

with support from Mr Sledgehammer on the right

 

[muttonshutter]

Did you get to see the lower levels, a guide told me there was another smaller network underneath.
Also many years ago i got to go through the tiny escape tunnel for the shelter that runs between the touristy cave and the cave they used to do LRP at.
Great pics by the way.

 

[pirate]

Nice pics, but i dont see the need for the emailing/organising it.

I live right by it, you pay a fiver, and you can see everything you've just photographed.

Not flaming the repot, they are still some nice pictures, just its not an explore at all.

we payed £10, the normal tour is 40 mins long....we had about 3hours...we saw bits that are not included in the normal tour

I think it was a good explore plus was good to meet up with people from here and D.places.
Without the organisation of Tommo it wouldn't have happened.

 

[loftym]

Nice report no mention of the jazz club that used to be down there back in the day. I took my daughter and some of her friends when she was a kid. The place used to be packed with Larpers on a Sunday afternoon, don't know if they still use it. Come to don't even know if larpers still exist.

 

[pirate]

Nice report no mention of the jazz club that used to be down there back in the day. I took my daughter and some of her friends when she was a kid. The place used to be packed with Larpers on a Sunday afternoon, don't know if they still use it. Come to don't even know if larpers still exist.

yep they are still there ,i think they have about 1/3 of the caves

 

[tommo]

Nice pics, but i dont see the need for the emailing/organising it.

I live right by it, you pay a fiver, and you can see everything you've just photographed.

Not flaming the repot, they are still some nice pictures, just its not an explore at all.

Yeah thats a fair comment, it was more about the people going along than the explore though, nice day out with friends seeing something different

can wait till up pop your first report up or u still struggling to get people to go exploring with u :tumbleweed :tumbleweed

I guess u won't need to be added to my email list for the future

good luck fella, we should all take note of your experience

 

[petzl]

Yeah thats a fair comment, it was more about the people going along than the explore though, nice day out with friends seeing something different

can wait till up pop your first report up or u still struggling to get people to go exploring with u :tumbleweed :tumbleweed

I guess u won't need to be added to my email list for the future

good luck fella, we should all take note of your experience

nice one tommo

 

[Hessian]

Aww can't believe I missed out on this one (I live in Chislehurst)

 

[diehardlove]

Nice pics, but i dont see the need for the emailing/organising it.

I live right by it, you pay a fiver, and you can see everything you've just photographed.

Not flaming the repot, they are still some nice pictures, just its not an explore at all.

haha you write shit like that then post threads begging people to explore with you http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=46562 and wonder why,http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=42600 also not one reply
tommo spent time getting us all together as we all wanted to meet each other and spend some time getting to know fellow explorers as that way you make friends hence the need for the emailing/organising it, but you would not understand that with your five pound tourist tours, we seen 2 hours and 15 mins more than you and your mummy would get but you know what you wont get that mate as you are a cunt to put it bluntly and dont have friends to invite you too stuff like this,
Im not going to answer you back as you are not worth the 30 secs it takes me for a reply so go on mate call me what you want with them big internet bollocks :freak
not flawing it and not a explore me and a few others went in sealed sections without the guide in places with roof faills but then you would not know that would you !!!!

 

[Brick_Man]

ignoring all the uglyness above...


Was a top trip, MUCH mischief had, I'm sure I have at least 8 photos of tommo molesting ginger and blonde teenage girls that will find their way to the internet at some point
shots from the big cam won't be up for a while, the film is sat in my fridge stewing for a bit.
tommo I haven't forgotton about you, I still owe you the monies! Was an epic navigation fail thanks to trying to rely on a gps, thats also a phone, and at the opportune moment for pulling off the m25, I missed it, and the next junction was the m11, then 15miles down the m11 into central london was the next chance to turn around, :/ epic fail, was mean't to be in essex, ended up in stratford, only a MINOR error I'm sure you'll agree.
Saying that, looks like there was as much molesting and museum rape to be had at keveldon hatch lmao