# King William Street Underground Stn



## fluffy5518 (Nov 1, 2011)

Hi all !!
Right !! First thing to mention is please dont get too excited, this visit was a few years ago, long before i purchased a decent camera and learned any photography 'skills'. This was definately one (if not THE) visit to an abandoned place that REALLY kick started my passion for exploring............anyway read on............................
King William Street station lies 75 feet underneath a busy Central London road surrounded by modern faceless office blocks. There is only one trace that a station ever existed here and that is a blue plaque placed many many moons ago by The City of London Corporation !!





The station was a terminus on the first electric tube railway in the world-' The City & South London Railway ' Opened on the 18th December 1890 and ran to Stockwell in South London. Only ten years after opening the line was extended northwards to Moorgate using a new route tunneled from Borough stn, and King William Street stn and the tunnels under the Thames towards London Bridge Stn were abandoned on February 24th 1900 !!!




With the onset of WW1 fears grew that the abandoned tunnels could be used by invaders and as a result the track was lifted and the tunnels sealed in 1914. All then lay quiet until in 1940 the owners of Regis House the property directly above the stn acquired the tenancy of the underground area in order to build an air raid shelter for 2000 people !!!
The entrance stairwell








...this leads down to platform level where a lot of original tiling still exists








The entrance to the original platforms are now barely recognisable since the building of the shelter !!




However parts do exist and this is a side room (poss a toilet) Notice how all the original tiling was simply painted over with Sunshine Yellow when the shelter was erected !!




The shelter was built over the entire length of the platforms and out into the crossover tunnel at the stn throat. It consists of upper and lower sections which presumably were male and female areas.
This is part of the lower section with the door marked Gentlemen.




Upstairs now and into the female area. Notice the forced air ducting and toilet areas.












The station was approached by two single track tunnels on slightly differant levels which were used for toilet cubicles.








No idea what the purpose of these flaps was ?








Both tunnels then continue on for a short while until they are blocked !!












Remarkably a painted gradient marker still exists in one of the tunnels.





There are still a few odds n sodz around although the original wartime posters that lined the shelter well into the 70's have now perished. This is the forced air vent motor and fan assembly complete with starter switch and fan makers plate.












open and closed levers to control the flow still exist as do the conicle shaped vents themselves. I think that the fire detector is a slightly later addition.








Fire Reel !!




Broken light fitting




...and the Minerva fire alarm control panel all still exist.




As does one final notice from WW11. It reads ' Special notice to late arrivals and early risers. Please spare a thoght for your fellow shelterers and refrain from making any unnecessary noice. Please remember that others may be asleep although you are not !!!! Sound advise indeed !!




Thanx !!


----------



## Lost_In_Normandy (Nov 1, 2011)

Wow, amazing post and my kind of subject! Just love the victorian tiles in the underground!

Great work!!


----------



## cogito (Nov 1, 2011)

This is probably the one underground station in London that I never thought I'd see any photos from, good stuff!


----------



## highcannons (Nov 1, 2011)

Wonderful report. And the pictured are perfectly good enough - 'tis not a photography forum!
Those fire safety things (extinguishers, hose reel and panel) are post ww2 ' cos not only are they later but fire regs were not around pre ww2.....wonder who used it for what to need fire safety stuff in it? Thanks.


----------



## malt1977 (Nov 1, 2011)

Great report, very interesting subject.


----------



## night crawler (Nov 1, 2011)

Wicked Fuffy, one of your best reports yet and I have to say that would kindle my exploring efforts as well. Brilliant.


----------



## klempner69 (Nov 1, 2011)

Excellant report plus the pics are fine ok.


----------



## tank2020 (Nov 1, 2011)

Great post, the pics show whats there, no distortion of the truth, thats all we need. Cheers


----------



## sYnc_below (Nov 2, 2011)

Very interesting location, thanks for posting


----------



## Munchh (Nov 2, 2011)

This is truly excellent fluff. As others have said, pics are just fine. In truth, it's how I prefer to see them. NC's right, this is the best thing you've given us yet.

I'm intrigued by the Leonard starter, I'm sure we had one of those on an old re saw (like a large bandsaw) which had a two stage start up. Fan-bloody-tastic mate!


----------



## fluffy5518 (Nov 2, 2011)

Hi Guys !! Many, many thanks for the comments !! I'd just like to mention that if you nip over to the Sub-Brit website you will find many better quality photo's and a much deeper (no pun intended !!) historical report, including pictures of the wartime posters that survived until comparitively recently and a fascinating report on exploring the disused stn in 1930 !!!
PS Highcannons - according to the above after the war the site became a storage location and it was probably at this time ( early 50's) that the fire detection equipment was installed !!


----------



## Em_Ux (Nov 3, 2011)

Really interesting report....thanks for posting!


----------



## kevsy21 (Nov 3, 2011)

Cracking stuff


----------



## skeleton key (Nov 3, 2011)

Lovley stuff there fluffy
I realy like this location 

SK


----------



## godzilla73 (Nov 3, 2011)

Marvellous stuff Fluffy. What does the sign say above that metal grille where the tunnel is blocked off? (About the 20th phot down from the top)
Godzy


----------



## johno23 (Nov 4, 2011)

I cant top what has already been said except to say nice work.


----------



## fluffy5518 (Nov 7, 2011)

godzilla73 said:


> Marvellous stuff Fluffy. What does the sign say above that metal grille where the tunnel is blocked off? (About the 20th phot down from the top)
> Godzy



Hi mate !! It states ' Contact premises and structures engineers for access beyond this point '
There are photo's on the web of the tunnels ( which lead back to London Bdg ) and if i remember correctly you can catch a glimpse of one from the Northbound platform of the Northern line !! Needless to say we didn't get to venture into these tunnels and with the country rapidly falling into a state of mass hysteria, i think it's extremely unlikely any of us will ever get to view KWSt again !!


----------



## UrbanX (Nov 7, 2011)

Beautifully written history, can't believe how old it is! Thanks for sharing, stuff like this doesn't come up very often!


----------

