Lost railway tunnel Greenwich branch line

For many years a lot of people have wanted to get into the lost railway tunnel used by the Greenwich branch line. Pictures of the Blackheath Hill bridge/tunnel have recently appeared, thanks to photographer Ian Mansfield - the man is a hero. However there is still much more tunnel waiting to be rediscovered; the full history of the railway is covered by Nick Catford here. Ian has given the pictures a CC license (Creative Commons), so non-commercial reproduction rights are fairly relaxed. Please Google CC if you're not sure.

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All photos above: Ian Mansfield - original set on Flickr here.

Point Hill Conduit House - watercolour

The only known depiction of Point Hill Conduit House recently turned up. I puzzled over this somewhat unusual octagonal-vignetted picture for ages, because the perspective is difficult to interpret. The cylindrical design of the conduit house is clearly shown on early 19th century maps as seen below. Its sibling at the top of Hyde Vale may once have been a full cylinder, but rebuilt as partially square-sided. I think we can be fairly satisfied with an identification of this as the Point Hill Conduit House.

A charming watercolour - click for a slightly larger version (55k 560x404)

*UPDATE* A bigger version of the original has now become available, enabling us to look more closely at the conduit house (click for a larger version, 202K 614x412):

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The Travers map (1695) below marks a pair of heads labeled as No.2; the left of these - in what is now the road we know as Point Hill - is what is being discussed above. Also visible are three spring heads under the brow of the hill, which may have fed this conduit house. Incidentally it may be more correct to call this the Gang Lane conduit.