# Bridge Valley Road Deep Shelter (Avon Gorge Firing Range), Bristol



## mattc (Dec 29, 2008)

Visited December 2008 with 'Lilla'.

You've seen this before (here and here just in case you haven't) and probably know the history so I won't repeat it again. It would appear that the tunnel has been recently broken into for the purpose of an organised party, the first sign is the large quantity of discard bottles and cans in the clubroom:







This certificate of club affiliation that was shown framed and in good condition in a previous report is now looking rather worse for wear:






A record of lane usage from as late as 1998/1999, seems not many people were using the range at that point!






Guidelines on safe gun handling. I was surprised how this had stayed on the wall and was in relatively good condition compared to all the other papers scattered around which had once been on the noticeboards.






Moving on into the actual range, and a shot back towards the clubroom:






Fire escape hatch on the side of the tunnel. The location of this exit seemed odd as it is only a short distance into the tunnel and has been dug through once of the biggest thicknesses of rock. I would have expected the escape to be more central in the tunnel length.






Fire escape tunnel and exit door:





(Photo by Lilla)

More evidence of the party. The quantity of beer, cider and spirits containers, NOS cylinders, pint glasses etc was huge. The light bulbs have been removed in the firing range area except a few near the scaffolding and a table is set up in one corner, possibly for a DJ. The drinking debris was found in various spots all through the tunnel and outside the entrance.






Seems the local taggers have a slightly higher intellect than average. Couldn't quite work out the purpose of the white sheeting, although if it dates from the range days it was probably just to lighten the area up:






Moving deeper into the tunnel you pass through a short section behind the range targets with a big sand-filled backstop to collect the lead, then on into the centre tunnel section which has had it's corrugated 'shelter' roof removed. It would appear this has only been opened up since the gun glub closed and so presumably for about 50 years the rear half of the tunnel remained largely undisturbed. The floor level is much lower in this section for reasons I cannot work out, I'm also not sure why the roof would have been taken down. Looking back towards the range:






Now through the next brick wall and into the last main tunnel section. This is in excellent condition and well-preserved from the tunnel's time as an air-raid shelter. 






Toward the end of this section there is the sound of running water and the corrugated metal is coming away from the inner wall. There is free flowing, clean water running down the wall here and an impressing build-up of flowstone has resulted. There is a pocket in the flowstone at the point where the flow is greatest and it can be seen that the formation is several inches thick. There are also impressive stalactites forming here as well several other places on the roof of the tunnel. 






Through the final blast-wall pair and you are into the 'entrance' section at the south end of the tunnel. This contains two sets of ex-toilets, of which only some pipework and cubicle walls remain. There is evidence of the recent party here too (including a fancy-dress pointed nose!), but also some somewhat older artifacts, mostly empty alcohol bottles pointing to other illicit users of the tunnel in years gone by:






Walking through this tunnel is like travelling through time, each section showing a different piece of it's past. It's sad that it keeps getting broken into and is deteriorating so quickly.

Apologies for the quality of the pictures, I'm not really a photographer and only have access to a compact camera so most needed to be taken with flash


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## Foxylady (Dec 29, 2008)

Tis a shame about the deterioration but still an interesting site to see. Nothing wrong with your photos, mattc. Cheers.


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## ricasso (Dec 29, 2008)

what an interesting place, like foxy said,their a fine set of photos, I only ever use a compact digital, why risk
damaging somthing that cost several hundred quid in a hobby that inevitably involves some degree of clambering around.
your photographs show a comparable clarity to a digital SLR, I sometimes wonder if there are not cases of "mines bigger and more expensive than yours" a malady that affects many hobbys these days


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## sqwasher (Dec 29, 2008)

Interesting looking place & your photos are good too!


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## BigLoada (Dec 29, 2008)

Great stuff, I am becomoning a bit obsessed with big public shelters like this. The old artefacts are cool like that Fanta bottle.


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## theterrorwheel (Feb 7, 2009)

both entrances are welded shut at the moment.


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