The Winchester

The sewers of London serve the city’s bowels; the nervous system is catered for by the miles of fibre optics found beneath the city in these tunnels and more. The lifeblood that keeps the city going is the cable runs, a network of subterrannean tunnels carrying gas and electrical supplies. Take any of these away and the city shuts down, just as the body does if you take away any of the functions giving life. Just as we rarely see inside the human body, we rarely see inside the city.

Map and Ladder

Dangling

Access Details

The photos here are from 4 different runs. I couldn’t tell you much about each or any of them, they’re quite similar to each other really. Some have thick gas pipes running down, in and out of them, and others are dominated by cable trays holding the electricity. These don’t excite me in the same way a sewer or tube line does. Getting caught there may have more of a consequence than in a waste pipe, but photographically, they’re uninteresting. They’re hardly transient, they don’t invoke feelings of nostalia or adrenaline really. They’re lit for you, and I feel that that’s half the fun of underground photography. Getting into them is the best bit, the pretence of legitimacy. Hiding in plain sight.

Ongoing

Loops

I’ve hit these on various trips with various people, some enamoured by the concept of cable runs, others just seeing them as another place to play. Thanks to all participants, I feel we’ve all had a hand in this adventure. My time at the moment is dominated by finding the sewers and drains, this fills me with the most excitement.

End of the line

Veins

I’ll probably continue to look beneath. There’s a lot to see and a lot of variety, be it poo, trains or cables. If you don’t look, you don’t see, and that’s what this whole subterrannean urbex thing is about, finding things you wouldn’t know were there.