25 years of exploration under the earth with Dominic Clinton and Per von Scheibner - conduits, sewers, chalk mines, sand mines, deneholes, natural caves and more...
Many of the Greenwich conduits - originally Tudor, one or two even mediaeval - were rebuilt and re-engineered around 1700 by baroque architect Nicholas Hawksmoor. Imagine the outcry today if some above-ground structure authored by that famous name was neglected to the point where it fell down.
Across London and South East England developers see a denehole or an old mine working on their site as a nuisance - just something that needs to be filled in with fly ash and concrete. Instead of that negativity, why can't we incorporate the historic structures below ground into the surface heritage? Greenwich Council has a rather mediocre record in conserving subterranean heritage, driven more by the demands of government legislation (previously PPG15/PPG16, now replaced by PPS5) than genuine interest.
There's a fascinating world beneath our feet that is rarely seen or visited; we want to change that.
