We reached a crossing in the tunnel and took the right spur (which I'll call the first lateral tunnel). A collection of road work lamps lay scattered
around the floor - probably from an impromptu under-age gut-rot cider drinking party.
This was
originally Deep Shelter Number Four, designed and built by Surrey Highways and Bridges Council
Department in response
to, or in anticipation of, the bombing raids of the Second World War. As a council department was responsible, then it’s
very unlikely that the shelter was originally connected with Cane Hill Hospital in any way.
This also disputes the rumour that the tunnels were built as mortuary space for the hospital. It makes for
great ghost tales, but as I’d seen,
the hospital had excellent mortuary provisions (including its chiller for
about fifteen bodies) so it’s unlikely that they needed more space. Furthermore these tunnels were just too
far from the main hospital to be of any practical use - as an experiment, try getting a body from the hospital
down into these tunnels. It wouldn’t be easy, and it’d be a long, roundabout trip. (Not that I've tried - honest).
The plans for Deep Shelter Number Four (found in the project section) are very interesting - they show an
much expanded design (similar to the Epson Shelter). As it was, only part of the tunnels were dug.
The optical factory literature states that this tunnel at 235 feet long was used for testing
the lenses.