Chislehurst is an ordinary suburb in the borough of Bromley, more remarkable underground than it is above ground. That's due to a series of tunnels that span 35km, mostly used for chalk and flint mining for hundreds of years from the 13th to 19th centuries. After being closed in the 1860s, they went on to store ammunition in World War 1 and were used to grow mushrooms in the 1930s, before being repurposed into air raid shelters during World War 2, housing nearly 15,000 people at 1d1 a night, and have since become a unique tourist attraction open to 45 minute long tours. I embarked on one recently and enjoyed my time there; unfortunately photos aren't permitted, so you'll have to accept my words as fact. They also don't discuss the mushrooms.
Arriving at 11:00, along with quite a few visitors, we went on our way into the tunnels which are less caves, more mines, since they are man-made, passing the code of conduct used when this was an air raid shelter. Taking a lantern each, we passed various mannequins which reside behind barriers, likely to unsettle the visitors - the caves' marketing revolves around this, to the extent you may not believe they're former mines, rather that they're haunted, more on that later.
Then there's the room with the instruments on stage, the final one with artificial lighting before a walk into oil lamp-lit darkness. Various artists have performed here, particularly in the 1960s and 70s, with the final performance occurring in 2001; most notably, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and David Bowie. The friendly tour guide tried to include us in this, with her mention of Floyd causing the most nods whilst Black Sabbath had just one adherent. On we walked.
The tour guide mentioned that there are three sections of the caves - Druid, Saxon and Roman, each corresponding to the time when they were built - and whilst sources on this appear ambiguous, it's a nice way to split the caves into sections. The Druid section, whilst the shortest, is also supposedly the oldest, dating back 6000 years, and does have some Druid-esque art, chiselled from the chalk walls by a former visitor to the caves. After much nagging, she was able to come down alone and work away on what ended up looking convincingly like Druid art, adding Spiderman and Canary Wharf for good measure.
From here it was onto the Saxon section, with longer tunnels all connected together in a web. This section is the youngest, at 500 years of age, and is also where the tour guide tries to scare you. The echo was bad enough, it startled me, but the part where they take all the lanterns and leave you enveloped in darkness is more disquieting. Left with people murmuring in the following seconds, that turns into shrieking as a large bang is sounded, echoing down the tunnels.
Eventually the tour guide returns and reveals this bang was just a case of hitting a metal sheet with a hammer, and they also show the now damaged drum previously used. We got our lanterns back and continued to the Romans section, which dates back 2000 years, and is also where the tour insists it's a horror adventure.
The caves are larger than 35km, that's the amount that's been uncovered - almost 90% of the caves are flooded. One such section is a lake, partially covered up, which was where a corpse was found in the 1940s, supposedly that of a murder victim from the 1800s. Reportedly the ghost of the White Lady continues to haunt the area, and the caves ran a competition for who could stay the night by the lake. Only one succeeded, indeed he left a carving of a horse for all to see, and another attempt resulted in someone's shoulder somehow dislocating. They don't run the challenge anymore, if you're curious, after that final attempt.
From here, the caves focus on the air raid shelter aspect, with models of beds and more mannequins dressed in suits and dresses, along with the fronts of buildings like hospitals, the post office, and the warden's office. We were told about the cooling system used to reduce the heat brought on entirely by the sheer amount of people, as well about the only child born in the caves. In fact, when she was born, it was the only day the caves' chapel wasn't open - she was named Cavena, if you want proof absurd names have always existed.
From here it was a walk into light, past the same code of conduct as before, and the realisation the next set of visitors was even larger than our group. The operators would prefer it if you went to their cafe or bought some souvenirs, and I obliged by getting a small "What to do in any wartime emergency" book, full of Churchill quotes and bookended with old medicine advertisements, just for future reference. Otherwise, you can go and explore Chislehurst itself, which doesn't get more interesting than the caves, I found from past experiences.
Even if you find the spooky narratives forced, the caves are an experience unlikely to be matched anywhere in London. At just £8 a ticket, it's worth the money considering there aren't that many places you'll walk around, lantern in one hand, with the feeling that perhaps something is wrong, maybe you're not imagining it...
1 - d is the pre-decimalised penny
Super‼️‼️very interesting
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