A Look Under Kingsway

Our previous excursion into the disused City Widened Lines beneath Smithfield prompted a certain amount of thought. The opportunity arose thanks to the need to carry out compensation grouting ahead of the passage of the Crossrail TBMs below, leading to the Line’s being temporarily occupied by Crossrail themselves as a worksite. Given the length and route of the Crossrail tunnels therefore, and the likely need for grouting elsewhere, what other sites within the City might this present a rare chance to take a closer look at? It was Crossrail themselves who swiftly spotted a similar opportunity and helpfully arranged access – the Kingsway Tram Tunnel.

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London Terminals: Fighting Over Farringdon (Part 2)

In Part 1 of our journey below Smithfield we followed in the footsteps of John Bull’s underground wander down the Widened Lines from Barbican. Here in Part 2 we leave him fumbling in the dark and emerge blinking into the light at Farringdon. We will not linger on the surface for long though because, as we have already discovered, the hidden delights lie underground. Scratch the surface, or dive beneath it, and you discover there is much more to the Smithfield area than meets the eye.

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London Terminals: Fulsome Farringdon

Initially, we’d planned just a single post looking at Farringdon as part of our (increasingly badly titled) London Terminals series, but John Bull’s recent wander through the old ‘Widened Lines’ tunnels east of Farringdon gave a brief glimpse of an unexpectedly cavernous subterranean world. This prompted us to ask: just how much more is down there?

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