48 replies to this topic

[tonyn]

I remember as a child visiting a family friend in the early 70s in kemble street, At the time my dad took me down to the cellar , which had another doorway in it.Past the doorway was a tunnel running left and right, Ive spoken to my dad recently about it just to make sure i wasnt imagining it and was supprised to here i wasnt. I also asked my uncle about it and he remembers it very well.apparentley the house used to be a pub called the Wellington Inn. The tunnel ran along kemble street and down warrinoton road, it also ran up towards the crown pub with a entrance from there, From the crown it went elswhere but i have no idea?????
Can anybody shed any light on this cheers ps the pub was number 78 kemble street

[leschip]

Tony, this is new one on me. I hope that some good replies are added it has me intrigued
Les

[stephen nulty]

New one to me too, will see if I can find anything on it.

[leschip]

Stephen, if neither you or JVY can't find owt, there is no hope for anyone

[daystate]

Maybe something or nothing.

when I worked for telewest we were pulling a cable to greenhall court from the service box just next to the red lion,anyway we couldnt find a service 'pit' inbetween so we were lifting all sorts of man hole covers we lifted one on the footpath outside the pizza place and it was nothing id seen before. About 20-30 foot deep with ladders going down bit like a drain, but at the bottom was a definate tunnel, I couldnt tell how wide or deep but there where cables of different sizes running along it, would be good to know what side of the road no.78 is/was on.

[leschip]

78 is right by Cyprus St. Hope that helps. Should I bring me spade & crow-bar??

[Olliebeak]

My brother-in-law and his wife used to live in Kemble Street in the late 60's/70's/early80's. I'm not sure of the number but it was in the block across the road from The Crown. The house was next-door to the Chinese (at the time) on the corner - not sure what is today. When we stayed there for a week, I was very surprised at how big the house actually was including HUGE cellars that they'd turned into a family sitting room, kitchen/dining room/utility room and d-i-y workshop.

My brother-in-law told me that when they moved into the property that it had lots of Telephone Equipment in it and that it had, at one time, been the first Telephone Exchange in Prescot - any of you Prescot experts able to verify that piece of information?

I was just wondering if the tunnel could have been anything to do with original phone cables - or possible access/exit route for the Parish Church .

[leschip]

Ollie, I don't think it was an early tex. But it could have been a "test shop" for BI Telecoms, the location would be about right. Les

[stephen nulty]

From the front, that block of houses look like simple "2-up, 2 down", but from the rear you can see that they are three story - or maybe even four, if you include the cellars - though I might be wrong on that.

Putting together the contents of this thread, we appear to be talking about quite a long tunnel, as the initial post talks about it heading to Warrington Road and being accessible from the Crown, and Daystate saying that there was something up around the pizza place, also mentioning the depth of 20-30 feet.

Cables are mentioned, but the Telephone Exchange was (is?) in Aspinall Street. The BI didn't have any locations north of Kemble Street and I can't see why they might have anything running west of tThe crown, as they had no premises over there.

Anybody here work for (or know somebody who works for) any of the utility companies, as their digital mapping should reference any tunnels in use around there.

[daystate]

I might don a viz vest, and go for a mooch.

[leschip]

Stephen, you do have the correct location of the tex. But the large house mentioned is on the BI side of Kemble St (or am I off course?)and would link up with the Snig Lane area and entrance. We need H.G. Wells "Time Machine"

[jvy20]

hi Lads,

No input from me I'm afraid - never heard of tunnels under Kemble Street. They must be really old and forgotten about - my father was born in Prescot in 1909 and he never referred to them - he was keen as mustard on Prescot History. Would have thought Arthur Roberts would have mentioned in his books but can't find any reference to the tunnel

[leschip]

That's it kids!!!!!!! John has drawn a blank. We're stuffed,trussed and oven ready Les
Errrr just a thought, 78 Kemble st to the Crown is, I remember, 1 block. Could the tunnel be interlinked cellars

Edited by leschip, 25 March 2011 - 03:19 PM.

[stephen nulty]

Les, yes, that's possible, but I'm also thinking about reference to the Pizza place, cos there's that further on.

I've knocked up this sketch based on an old map, just for context (and for any non-Prescot readers). It shows that we're talking about an extensive area here.

Attached Files

•  Cellars.jpg   123.93K   34 downloads

[jvy20]

leschip, on 25 March 2011 - 02:45 PM, said:

Errrr just a thought, 78 Kemble st to the Crown is, I remember, 1 block. Could the tunnel be interlinked cellars

Les - no wish to pi$$ on your chips but Crown is 61 Kemble St so 78 is opposite side of road. There was a pub on the other side closer to Warrington Road - as I remember it it was no longer a pud but a private house. It was painted green and a Mrs Fisher lived there in the 1950/1960 era.