How the Metro Saved an Iconic Monument

Building an underground Metro system in a busy city full of historic buildings is always going to be a difficult and disruptive process, but it's worth the temporary inconvenience in the short term because of the improved transport network you get out of it.
But in the case of the Tyne and Wear Metro, things went a whole step further and the building of the Metro's busiest station actually saved one of Newcastle upon Tyne's most beloved landmarks, Grey's Monument, from a whole lot of danger...

[@newbris]

Loved it. Thank you!

[@edificity]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed

[@ChetNotJet]

Great video, really interesting

[@jackking5567]

I still say that the engineers who built that Metro station had some seriously big nuts - all of that monument reliant upon their engineering skills. Amazingly they pulled it off and with great success too.

[@edificity]

Absolutely, it's a real marvel

[@AdamOpie]

Loads of facts I didn't know about! So interesting 😊

[@MetroMark]

Nice vid

[@tt-ew7rx]

When they redeveloped the science city on the former beer factory site, they discovered that the factory building was on top of coal which would be highly illegal these days. It was similarly a miracle that the brewery actually survived that long and functioned correctly. However the new development could not go ahead so the university and city government temporarily became unexpected coal miners. In the end they sold the coal for millions making up some of the cost of the new development.

[@edificity]

That's fascinating

[@justanothergermantankie9142]

Hi!