The north end of the tunnel from the outside - -
- - and on the inside
A school friend's mother had said that the north entrance of the tunnel was accessible in her youth, although she had not gone through it.
This map, which I found on the internet, shows the tunnel running under the "Allot Gdns" and between houses on the north side of Law Crescent. These houses are built where there were other allotments and it was there that he and I found the north end of the tunnel when we came to look for it in the mid-1960s. A few minutes later we were at the south end congratulating ourselves that we had achieved what his mother had not.
The north end of the tunnel from the outside - - |
- - and on the inside |
The north entrance to the tunnel had been covered with rubble but, over the years the action of rain etc. had lowered the ground level revealing the top of the arch of the tunnel - and that gap was enough to allow us to get inside.
A few weeks later, we returned in the evening with a group of kids from the Broughty Ferry Crusader Bible Class (where I was a leader). As we were crawling into the tunnel, three local lads came to see what we were doing. Rather than leaving them outside to report who-knows-what to who-knows-who that we were in there, we took them (very willingly) along with us.
In January 2015 the "Courier Weekend" published an article about the Dundee and Newtyle Railway and quoted this incident. A few months later I had an e-mail from someone who said he may well have been one the three boys that we took in the tunnel. "We definitely stumbled on an organised group who had torches etc. The lad centre back in the tunnel group has the same look as myself at that time. We went back a few times but within three or four weeks the Corporation bricked up the entrance. Possibly because we startled the life out of some people playing tennis on the other side. I went on to be elected as councillor for Dundee Central for two terms in the late 1970s. We had informal discussions to see if there was anything that we could do if we had control of the tunnel. Sadly nothing came of these proposals. Shame as the sites around both entrances were open to some form of heritage development at that time, but we had no money."
As is shown in the right hand photo, the mound of rubbish inside quickly descended to the original tunnel floor level.
In 1981 the north end of the tunnel was excavated, surveyed and buried in connection with building work which was going on nearby. I managed to get this photograph at the time.
Please feel free to contact me by e-mail at elliottsimpson@hotmail.com
January 2016