# Bridge Valley Road Air Raid Shelter, Bristol, march 2010



## tommo (Apr 6, 2010)

well this topped of a great weekend, they are becoming a bit of a regular thing at the moment 

after a mammoth 22 mile bike ride from devizes to bradford on avon it was time to chillout in bristol for a good drinking session, oh was we wrong, me, petzl and urbanjunky hit the town at night, beers,cider and camera kit we decided to explore what the city have to offer for a couple of hours before meeting up with others.

*history*

constructed in the avon gorge around the mid 1860's it ws constructed as a railway tunnel for the bristol port and pier to connect with the mainline,taken over by the great western railway in 1871, but was shut down to make way for the A4 Bristol Parkway road in 1922, but during ww2 the tunnels served another purpose as a safe place to go during the bombing as bristol was a big target during the war, the place was sectioned of and corrigated roof and sides was put in place to create a nice little air raid shelter for a small number of residents in the area, obly to be left empty for many years before bristol rifle and gun club took over a small section and converted it in to a nice little shooting range, only to close after the goverment changed its policy in 1996 on the rights to own a gun in the uk, today its just sits empty and trashed

but a nice little explore, big shout to petzl for the grand tour, its not massive and the not the longest of tunnels but i enjoyed it 

nice passage way originally an emergency exit







small emergency exit door, looking in to the shelter its self






remains of the rifle range, the targets would of all been set up and the bullets would of fallen in to the breeze block barrier






trashed, but once would of been the main firing area of the club






a small bit of luxury, corner sofas and a big brother chair in the main part of the gun club sitting area






originally would of been a toilet but looks like it served as a sink area for the club






heading back up the tunnel past the club section in to the original tunnel






ammo case and on old lamp are just some of the old finds kicking about 






one of the refuge sidings for the railworkers, some really nice arched stone work and some nice colouring on the walls over the years






blocked of section leading in to the old air raid shelter






constructed inside the old tunnel this was the main area for shelter, still containing the ventilation system in the roof for fresh air for all inside






original tunnel hiding away behind the corrigated sections






looking back up towards rifle range end 






research suggests these where also chemical toilets as well but was also told they could of been decontamination shower area, not sure



thanks for looking


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## night crawler (Apr 6, 2010)

Looked to be a good explore that though a shame about the trashing of the place.


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## krela (Apr 6, 2010)

Yeah there's a story with this place and the world of urbex but I'm not going to get into it.

Needless to say it wasn't that trashed 5 years ago.

This place was considered the safest shelter in Bristol and there were regularly fights in the queue outside between people desperate to get in. If I remember correctly the council actually had to evict the odd families who took to living there permanently!


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## Foxylady (Apr 6, 2010)

Ages since I've seen a report from here. Nice one, Tommo...good to see the various sections too. 
Sounds like you had a great weekend.


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## Engineer (Apr 7, 2010)

*Air Raid Shelter.*

Nice pics and report Tommo. With reference to the decontamination area (if any) it would normally be at the entrance end.


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## tommo (Apr 7, 2010)

Engineer said:


> Nice pics and report Tommo. With reference to the decontamination area (if any) it would normally be at the entrance end.



there was originally an entrance at both ends of the tunnel, so over the years i thinks its become a bit of a myth about the showers, but not sure

but it was a great little explore


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