Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral History Laird Street Bus Depot underground tunnels

When i started working for Arriva about 4 years ago I was told a story about underground tunnels there.

The depot was originally a tram depot and was changed for buses at some point. When they tore down the old buildings and dug some of the ground up to relay a decent floor and foundations for the new building they found some underground tunnels and rooms. Nothing was in them but they didnt seem to be for any purpose. A few people reckoned they went to the docks or seacombe and they where bomb shelters. Noone got to go down there though and everyone was forbidden to enter (obviously some people sneaked in for a nose and said it looked like it went on for ages) and it was of course covered back up.

Anyone got any info or ideas? I thought it could be an escape route from the docks into bidston or claughton for the workers.

Hey dave... Not tunnels am afraid but it was actually storage compartments (cellar) they did go for ages they where built for the entire length of the Bus Station the old Tin can one (what i call it) I think you can still get to them from the cellar underneath the Offices but im not sure i will investagate further as i have an uncle who works there and a friend who used to work to

what where thay used for? why so big?

I once nursed a man who had fallen off the old sheds when he was a boy. He had quite severe epilepsy as a result of the fall. Nice fella though he had a filthy mouth if he got agitated. Probably dead now.

They're going digging work in the Asda here in Liscard, I work there so when I go into the warehouse yard on the odd occasion you see the test pits put in. Nothing seen in there so far in terms of tunnels but there's old brickwork from its days as a tram/bus depot visible. Maybe I'll have to ask one of the workies if there's been anything useful found in there.

good info gang!

Can any 1 get pics ???

I dont work there anymore you see so i cant really ask anymore info. But ill pop in soon and ask. Theres a few lads who have worked there over 30 years and more, and have lived nearby all their lives so they may have a story or two to tell.

Ill look into the access via the offices too.

These "tunnels" were only at the front of the sheds, an area known to staff as "The Pits."
Going back to the days of the tram, i understand that trams would run into this area, over a series of open pits. This enabled work to be carried out underneath. There were perhaps half a dozen parallel pits, of maybe 60 yards in length, and there were occasional "gaps" connecting these lengthy pits, enabling workers to go from pit to pit, without having to keep climbing in and out. I imagine the tram lines just went over these gaps.
Eventually, as trams were phased out, most of these pits were covered over -rather than filled in. On some of them the front part was left exposed for buses to be worked on. (I remember a bus falling into one of these pits when the shunter got too close to the edge!) In time, probably in the 1980's, these were also covered over, as all maintenance work was done further down the garage.
However, it was still possible to gain entrance to these undercover pits, from the MOT bays further down, and it was possible to walk pretty much the entire matrix of them.
Without prior knowledge of the original use of these pits, they would seem to be a strange, pointless collection of tunnels.
I have one or two photos from the day i went down them, and will see if i can find and post whatever i have. -Don't hold your breath!
There was also at least one air-raid shelter from the war that was also accessable from within the garage.
However, there is nothing left now, as, following the demolition of the old sheds early into this millenium, the entire garage floor and matrix of 'tunnels' were dug up, and filled in, to allow for the new bus parking area, following redevelopment of the depot.
Incidentally, during the preparation works for the new yard, underneath the old bottom garage, the subsoil was NOT found to be merely subsoil. Following research at Birkenhead Library, it transpired that BEFORE becoming tram sheds, at some point in the mid-nineteenth century there was a brick works on the site, and all the clay had been dug up for brick production, and the hole was filled in with all sorts of garbage.
Huge drilling machines had to be brought in, to dig down to the bedrock below, and pilings were inserted to support the new bus parking area!
I may need correcting one or two things in the above, but the general information is correct.

I too nursed a guy who had fallen from these sheds as a young boy, the guy you mentioned maybe sounds like the same guy? He had a great sense of humour,an a v heavy smoker,ended up in a home in birkenhead ?

I worked on the new bus deport there when it was built. Our company did the electrics. I never saw any underground tunnels when I was there. The nearest I got where small cable ducts that run under the yard from the back of the old office building to the new workshop building further back.
I did however only start on that site just after the new yard/bus wash and service building where erected and two thirds of the original shed had been demolished so I didn't get to see what was under the concrete before it was laid.

i remember waking up on the back seat of a bus in the bus wash there one night, didnt see any tunnels so went back to sleep

Why doesn't that surprise me