Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral History Tranmere Tunnels - Inside the Shaft

All that was so interesting, I only live down the road, I can remember the air raid shelters at the bottom of the monkey steps and when it got sealed off, is this the same location?

Yes, that's it. 2 entrances in what is now Holborn Square.

can the public visit these tunnels?

no mate there now sealed bud for now!!!

Welcome to the machine Margeymoo, and your spouse Moocheymoo?

And Brian8669

No its just me Margymoo, still finding it tricky navigating a round, how do I find out if any replies have been left to my response, found this jsut by accident xx

Fantastic humour, just had me laughing out loud. This is far better than watching TV!

Totally agree. The council do this with EVERYTHINK historical. If it means they have to spend a few pennies out of there BILLIONIAR pockets they say no. A**holes

Hmmm. Time for another petition, me wonders...? We have a fb page in situ..,few tweaks here and there..bit of additional support...??

totally agree queen

Just sat and read through this whole thread and loved every bit of it! I must admit that 'secret' underground things are becoming a fascination to me. I have heard of tunnels under Mersey Park also but thats all, just heard about them.
Also heard some other crazy underground stuff too like a large WWII vehicle storage space under the prenton park area. Emergency use wards under the main Arrowe park hospital building in a sub basement level.
Tunnels radiating from Arrowe Hall to the edges of the park that the gamekeeper used to stay ahed of poachers.
All this information came from the same person so if one story is crap then they must all be, problem is the same guy told me about the Tranmere + bidston hill tunnels ( although he did say that Bidston Tunnel had a hospital in them)
Anyway, thanks for keeping me entertained during my night shift.

Welcome mate, theres plenty more to see, there was a section for first aid in bidston tunnels, wasn`t very big but it was there
I`ve heard about arrow hall also, infact a few of us went out there looking but couldn`1t find much as it was all overgrown.

I used to play in those tunnels when I was a kid in the 60's. We had a Chandlers shop on the Junction of Hinderton Road, Green Lane and Queen Street. The Quarry was over the road from the Shop behind my uncles house in Queen street and one of the entrances to the tunnels was at the back of the Quarry. There was a false entrance too that only went in for a few meters.
I remember the shaft, we used to climb up the rusty ladder to the top where there was a huge fan and its motor. Strange how the memory plays tricks though, I could have sworn the sides of the tunnels were those rectangular white tiles.
I do remember that a lot of them were flooded so we didn't go too far into them as kids. Eventually they were sealed up and as far as I can remember they were used for storage for a while by the Navy?
I moved away from the area after the start of the 70's, so I don't know what happened to the place.
There was another entrance in the next Quarry along where Charlie Lane had a scrap yard after the cottages had been knocked down. Originally there was a little archway near the old Chemist shop opposite the Junction of Queen Street and Old Chester road and if you went though, there was a little group of dilapidated cottages nestling in the shadow of the sandstone quarry walls, totally isolated from the rest of the town. Quite magical... Ah the ramblings of an old man:)

Thanks for sharing Habdab

I thought you might be interested in something that happened in Tranmere in the 1950's. As I mentioned in an earlier post my uncle lived in Queen street at the top of Green lane, The rear of his house backed onto the Quarry where one of the entrances to the tunnels was found. Access to the Quarry was gained through an entry between Stewart's garage and Rowland's dairy. In the yard at the rear of my uncles house (now occupied by Corinthian Motors), they lifted a flag stone and discovered a deep shaft cut into the rock. Being the type of people they were, they could never just replace the cover without taking a peek inside, so a man was lowered down the shaft on a rope. He found a hand dug side passage running off through the sandstone towards Green lane and followed it as far as he could before being forced to turn back due to a cave in. The conclusion was that it was a bolt hole intended for use by the Monks at the old Birkenhead Priory.
Just how true the theory is I have no idea but it was popular at the time.
The foundations of Tranmere must be like a Swiss cheese.