The Brighton Road Shelter (Cane Hill Bunker)

The Brighton Road Shelter, Cousldon has long been the subject of rumour and intrigue with all sorts of gossip and tales being whispered about the tunnels. It was: a Second World War bomb shelter, a nuclear bomb shelter, a mortuary for the nearby Cane Hill Mental Hospital, or a dark dungeon where ghastly experiments were carried out using the weird medical equipment still stored there.

Additionally it was: an optical factory or a mechanics. The Canadian Military used it for storage. And there are all sorts of artefacts in there – railway semaphores, telephone boxes, car engines and rusted machinery.

Even the location of the tunnels was open to conjecture, being situated anywhere within the Cane Hill site. It didn’t help that the hospital itself has its own service tunnels which only served to confuse the issue.

However, most rumours are based on a small foundation of truth. And after a little research, and a visit, most of these tall tales are found to be true in part. So, welcome to the varied history of the Brighton Road Shelter.

 Cane Hill Bunker Essays

History Of The Bunker

The Rumours Of Deep Shelter Number Four

 General Explorations

Dispelling The Myths (17|08|03)

 Maps And Documentation

Deep Shelter No. 4 - Original Surrey Council Plan

Deep Shelter, Brighton Road - Alterations required by optical works

Cox, Hargreaves and Thomson, Limited - Their own survey of the tunnels

General Location - Present Day

Many thanks to Andrew Tierney for the archival and present day plans and Laurence Fisher for the Cox, Hargreaves and Thomson, Limited - Survey.

 Literature

Cox, Hargreaves and Thomson, Limited. Underground Optical Works

 Original Photographs

Tea-break in the tunnels.

 Film and Video

Pathe News Footage featuring Cox, Hargreaves and Thomson, Limited.

Tunnels Of Cane. Lo-res exploration video shot by Rafal and friends. (1.23MB, Windows WMV format).

 Correspondence

Various e-mails about the tunnels.