The Excelsior Tunnel
Also known as the Kit Hill Tunnel
Also known as the Kit Hill Tunnel
Tunnelling started here in the 1880's to create a drainage tunnel for the Kit Hill mines at the top of the hill, some 1.5mile away. Over the years due to lack of funds the tunnelling started and stopped. It was never fully completed. Subbrit Clicky
In the years of the Cold War, secret tests where carried out in the tunnel to evaluate if it was possible to test nuclear weapons underground without being detected by other countries. The test where a success, but later moved to larger scale sites.
I visited this site with my wife on a journey back from Cornwall. It took a little while longer than we thought to locate the entrance, and we suffered lord only knows how many horse fly bites, but we managed to get there in the end!
Armed yet again with far too little light and only my bog standard camera;
(don't you love it when you win a bid on ebay and the seller just takes your money and vanishes....
)The shots are awful, I have had to do some serious level and backlight tweaking - I will be re-visiting all my recent haunts, including this one when I finally get a new camera and some brighter lighting. (what do most of you guys use for lighting?)
But hey, we got there, went in, so it warrents a report
We did not get to the end, I don't think anyone else has either. Not sure why. I will go further next time! It is a fairly easy one - not too wet. A simple wellies trek.
We also visited Preddanack Airbase during our time down in Cornwall, but I did not get any real shots worthy of a report - There was too much activity with the Gliding School and Radio Controlled Aircraft to be able to do a roam - It was all shots from the bridleway. Next time!
Amazingly clear water - filtered through 600ft of rock. Golden from the colour of the mud and sand.
The long trek back!
