Well in the secret garden, Park Vista

A well was recently found in the Dwarf Orchard (the walled garden adjacent to Park Vista). The photo below (photographer's name witheld, although the person was clearly of unusually tall stature - the wall just here is some 10 feet high) shows the general situation:

Graham Keevill of Keevill Heritage Consultancy has come to the rescue with some very clear photos of the well, both before opening and then looking down the shaft:

© Keevill Heritage Consultancy

© Keevill Heritage Consultancy

The well is 9-10m deep, with an internal diameter of 1.2m approx; the capping stone is 0.75m diameter with a bevelled edge plus two iron lifting rings¹.

¹ The Orchard, Greenwich Park: archaeological evaluation report. Keevill Heritage Consultancy, final issue 30 March 2010. Graham Keevill and Catherine Underwood.

The price of conduits

A fascinating note of how much was being spent on the Greenwich Hospital conduits has come to light. Dated 1727, it concerns "Conduits and Aquaducts" (sic), giving a figure of just over £2,257 - a very substantial sum of money at the time. It's not known over what time period this expenditure occurred. Click image for a slightly larger version.

Stunning new conduit portal image discovered

An incredible new image of a grand conduit portal has turned up. This is the first time either Per or I have ever seen this image, and we've been looking hard for 25 years. It's a major discovery, although we're not sure which conduit it is; much discussion will now take place. It might be the original entrance into the Hyde Vale Conduit, set into the pit alongside the Standard Reservoir Building. But right now we simply don't know. It's quite a grand portal - befitting a major conduit. I must admit I almost fell off my chair when I first saw this. It's an incredibly rare find. Click image for a slightly larger version.

Brick vault on Crooms Hill

This 1871 drawing by Sir John Gilbert shows a semi-ruined building on Crooms Hill with 3 entrances to what appears to be a brick-arched vault running into the hillside. The location is possibly opposite the church, where the park wall diverges away from the road and goes behind Hillside. Click the image for a slightly larger version.

Network Rail - the reluctant elephant moves 1 centimetre

A letter from Network rail's John Halsall (click for a larger version):

"...we do not consider there to be a material risk of failure of part of the tunnel lining without prior warning in the form of significant cracking of the tunnel wall."

How quickly would cracking of the tunnel wall be noticed? How often is the tunnel thoroughly inspected? It needs to be inspected daily until the exact location of the 1849 mine gallery is determined and the mine entered and surveyed.

"The drilling should establish if there is any evidence of the mine/cave referred to in the 1849 article beneath the tunnel wall or track at the location we agreed and whether or not it was filled adequately at the time."

I think "should" is rather optimistic, bearing in mind the limited depth and scope of the proposed investigation. This statement again confines itself to the 1849 article and ignores the possible existence of related unknown mine galleries elsewhere under the tunnel/s. Furthermore who is to judge what constitutes "filled adequately"? We suggest an independent engineer selected by ourselves and paid for by Network Rail.

Per von Scheibner has mentioned that the letter omits parts of their agreement, i.e. the depth (2 metres) & positioning of the boreholes (not just under the actual rails, but also between the rails & the tunnel walls on both sides of the rails at one metre intervals along the tunnel entrances on both sides).

Network Rail are - as I expected they would - doing the minimum they possibly can to investigate this issue. Furthermore the transparency of any investigations carried out by them (past, present or future) is open to question. Unfortunately I see a return to using the legislative brute force of Parliament and the House of Lords in order to make the obstinate elephant that is Network Rail move more than a centimetre towards fulfilling its duty of care to the travelling public.

Go on Network rail - surprise us: do some proper (and transparent) investigations, and do them now. Not in 6 months or a year. NOW.