Report - Coulsdon Deep Shelter, Surrey - August 2013.

[Ojay]

Coulsdon Deep Shelter, Surrey

Around the time of WW2 Surrey County Council commissioned the building of four deep shelters

Coulsdon Deep Shelter was the fourth and was built within the grounds of Cane Hill Lunatic Asylum

After the war, the shelter was purchased by Cox, Hargreaves and Thomson, Limited who specialised in the manufacture of optical devices – mainly lenses for huge telescopes

They purchased the tunnels as it provided the ideal atmosphere for the production of the lenses

However, the main drawback of the tunnels was the cold and damp conditions within them, this played havoc with corroding equipment and the morale of the workforce

To combat this, the company brought a refrigerator and wired it backwards so that it could act as a crude air-conditioning unit

Cox, Hargreaves and Thomson finally left the tunnels in the early 70s and the company subsequently wound up in 1978

After this they were used as a garage for a small length of time, but abandoned again because of the same problems faced by Cox, Hargreaves and Thomson

It was the later used as a dump for old VW car parts and the tunnels were then sealed by the local council

When this re-opened last year I missed out due to other arrangments and it had since been sealed

..More recently I went for a poke about here with Soylent Green only to find it welded up and a load of (fresh) concrete tipped over the entrance


As luck would have it, I was in the area again and was informed it was 'open for business' so myself Adders & Pom headed down one rainy afternoon for a mooch

It's in a bad way and not too many features left sadly compared to the likes of http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/military-sites/80607-deepdene-ww2-southern-railway-traffic-control-centre-april-2013-a.html etc..

I attempted to grab a few shonky pics whilst Adders decided to take a derped out lawn mower for a spin


Still it was good to finally see first hand...