URBEX - Chancery Lane deep level bunker

[@jmm1233]

that deeper part of a mystery tunnel is for flooding prevention for the main bunker , also acts as air circulatory

[@crazyleyland5106]

I expect you know about London Underground's pre war deep tube project. They started digging a network of deep tunnels, which ran along the same routes as other tunnels in the middle of London, but below them. The project was brought to a halt by the 2nd World War, and the tunnels were then used for various wartime purposes (not sheltering civilians, they went in the public tube stations). In the early 80s, I thought as a child that a nuclear bomb could drop any moment. I can tell that various door handles and kitchen units date from the 80s modernisation.

[@thecooldude9999]

7:40 looks like a rebadged pdp-11, a minicomputer from the 70s. Very rare and cool!

[@rsdave]

I've been walking past this place on my way to work every day for 18 months, I had no idea how amazingly awesome it was! 7:15 Datel 4122ACX modems looking very cool in their racks ;)

[@noxious_nights]

18:11 Imagine being a maintainence worker at the bottom of this shaft and suddenly you hear "Holy fuck thats a long way down"

[@LysanderLH]

I spent years working at Q. Sad to see it in such a state. Miss the guys.

[@w0l__]

I know exactly where this is and in fact I have been down there a couple of times myself (as an employee of the owner-company). It's a fascinating place to explore and this video doesn't show much of the complex.

[@ulazygit]

I recognised it too, having worked there after it ‘closed’, or rather decommissioned. Very useful facility for the work that my team and I carried out during the ‘90s-‘00s.

[@upcomingcloudrapperluca7645]

​@ulazygit curious what you mean by that? The last possible occupants before British Telecom was PINDAR, it was officially abandoned in 1996 due to the asbestos. What exactly were you doing down there up until the 2000s?

[@Mrbadboy10]

A great video for such a legendary location. Excellent work, Ben. Shame the goods lift is knackered though. I wonder how recent the flooding is...

[@gigteevee6118]

This is one of your best explores , epic stuff!

[@honeymonster5589]

Great video mind the asbestos ,think of all of those DOL starters and copper tube terminals that have been installed lol

[@GVGames1986]

Friends in low places! My Dad used somewhere like that when he used to film tv adverts. That was how they made their money. some top notch tech down there!

[@GVGames1986]

The place I am thinking of is an abandoned tube station btw. Aldwytch I think, he told me when he went down the stairs on his own one time, he just sat still and he said you could hear echos off in the distance. Spooky but cool place.

[@GVGames1986]

Alwytch and the Churchill war rooms are also good. Although when i went to the war rooms there were too many tourists so you had to go fast. Off peak that is a cool place too.

[@musiclabmn]

The coolest place I have ever seen, I would add this to my bucket list for places to visit someday. Absolutely incredible for someone who loves exploring like me to see.

[@TravisTerrell]

7:00 Wow, those curved pipes are AMAZING. Like great r/conduitport, but with big pipes! Also, this reminds me how much I want to buy and renovate an old Titan II missile silo.

[@JP_TaVeryMuch]

Agreed. That's pride in your work if ever I saw it.

[@shawndomenico5830]

how cool to see electromechanical lift logic still in use

[@paulbrooks4833]

There are some tunnels under Regent Street very old ones they go for miles

[@grantrennie]

Thanks for the great video, am watching it on lunch, will watch it again tonight when I am home

[@Darkmotive]

Amazing Video ! Can you please go back & go into more detail, ref machines... ? Love to see a much more detailed view of the "Mercury arc rectifier! !

[@bigbazzaRUFC]

25:00 A Thames valley in that condition? Had an indicator and everything so must’ve been a bad flood

[@johnrauner2515]

17:10 That incomplete double helix is like that because the bottom part was removed in the 60's when the two generators were installed. The two large pipes going up and along the passage at the top are the exhausts for them. Not quite sure why only the bottom part was removed, never been able to find that out but the only thing I can think of is the idea behind removing that bottom part was not followed through. They changed their mind and left the rest in place.

[@johnrauner2515]

20:00 Those are the two generator exhausts. This is the original exhaust air shaft for the bunker. It was used to run the generator exhaust pipes to the surface.

[@johnrauner2515]

24:25 I just realised it looks like there's 4 generators not 2. So the other two exhausts take another path to the surface. That would be interesting to find next time you're down there.

[@johnrauner2515]

26:10 Looks like we found where the other two exhausts go.

[@kerryknight2560]

Lol, not so secret anything when you realise it was a working telephone exchange. I worked there in the 80's. Most of the 'secret' tunnels were actually cable chambers running telephone and signalling cables across London.

[@SummerADDE_Elevators]

Stockholm city is known for having a "Swiss cheese" bunch of tunnels of various kinds. mostly built in the 50's and 60's.

[@Exploited89]

Holy crap, what a MASSIVE exploration! Great video Beno. Strangely lower tunnels seems to be newer (1960-1970) than the upper ones (WW2?). Do you have any idea of what use did the tunnels have originally? There was a telephone exchange, for sure, but at the same time with all those generators, water filters-purifiers (those chlorine cylinders) and air ducts it looks like a nuclear bunker!

[@EWPA14]

World War II & the Cold War. The 70s tunnels are probably from the Cold War.

[@richardlangly4635]

This was so epic! One of my favourite urbex vids that Beno or anyone else has done. It's in such good condition they must have it on some sort of standby in case they need to use it again. Obviously things like modems and computer equipment are outdated, but it wouldn't take that much for the government to bring this all up to working order in an emergency. Beno, more of this, please! Would love to see you go back down with waders and see where those flooded tunnels go.

[@john_smith1471]

Interesting video. Underground, secret and built like a battleship, certainly had a budget for this at the time. Period bronze coloured lift doors. By the number of toilets and decent canteen facilities quite a community must have worked here. Large power plant, batteries too in case generators failed.

[@benolifts]

This was an air raid shelter in WW2 and would have been used for a large number of people in the area. In the cold war the tunnels were extended a lot and it was used as a secret operations bunker.

[@CarolineFord1]

@@benolifts They were designed as air raid shelters but were mostly not used for that purpose. If this is the one I'm sure it is it was never actually used as an air raid shelter.

[@MajorCaliber]

Strikes me as some more of that Cold War Elitist escape infrastructure, i.e. "you commoners can fry in the nuclear blasts up on the surface while Duh Queen and Duh Generals are sheltering below..."

[@Techno-Universal]

The lifts were probably modernised in the mid to late 1980s based on the buttons being 1980s Dewherst while those red dot matrix LED indicator displays were also commonly in the mid to late 1980s but were most popular throughout the 1990s and to the mid 2000s! :)

[@tld8102]

Stap bright led to a drone and fly them in the tunnels

[@hayfords]

Does the tunnel complex connect up to other tunnels across London and towards the tunnels under Whitehall etc?

[@noxious_nights]

16:50 That looks exactly like the "emergency only" staircases at the Underground stations.

[@Darknecros7]

These are one of my favorite kind of exploration videos I love:). I wonder if you can find any tunnels that’s even deeper? like around 100 meters deep or more if there are any?

[@dykodesigns]

Amazing place, all those pipes! It looks proper creepy like those Alien movies. I wonder if there is a xenomorph lurking about🥶 this place has some scary bits!

[@IndianaDundee]

I would love to have the money to own, restore, and live in one of these bunkers.

[@NHGMitchell]

Fascinating video--I've often wondered what this place looked like!

[@Techno-Universal]

Also fire hoses should also have their year of manufacture printed on theirs labels! :)

[@MichiMess]

Great video! But how do you have access to these awesome buildings?

[@FatherPucci.]

apparently chancery lane connects to even more abandoned tunnels in London

[@UrbanParanormalXplores]

Love bunkers need to do more would like to explore more 👻

[@grantrennie]

There's one of these in Glasgow as well

[@Peter5on.]

The question is where those flooded tunnels lead?

[@arw2008]

Wow epic!

[@bluedamsel1185]

I can imagine something skulking around in a crouched position, skittering and hiding in the darker recesseses of those eerie tunnels and in those toilets!!!!

[@JJMClark]

No clipped into the backrooms there. Awesome

[@DrCassette]

What a very fascinating place!

[@jmm1233]

oh that sound is so awesome of the resonance wind

[@1961kickboxer]

That deep tunnel was a gpo tunnel for. Comms cables

[@AlexAnimate_YT]

The Central line train is passing near the bunker at 22:40 but you wont see the train you will just hear it

[@TheUrbexTheory]

Such an Amazing location

[@StavTech]

Best video you've ever done, nice work

[@benolifts]

Thanks

[@Juliukas101]

That bunker is Epping....I mean epic! loooooooool

[@DISCOTECHS]

Absolutely love this video, aswell as all your others about those Trains in Ukraine.. You certainly come across a lot of dirty bogs in your splores Beno.. Keep up the good work. See if you can get into Corsham, Wiltshire..

[@FM60260]

The best time is mercury arc rectifier time! It's a shame it wasn't all lit up.

[@foxbae4292]

This reminds me of the underpass from Silent Hill 3

[@cjliftvideos6396]

WOW! This is amazing! 😮

[@pbjbhbhvgbg6068]

Fine videos.

[@matthewwalker8197]

amazing!

[@iironmusiikkiluokka3064]

Anyone having a serious claustrophobic reaction? And still can't stop watching.

[@MattSuguisAsFondAsEverrr]

No but I do have an acrophobic reaction

[@willy.william4582]

Spooky Scary Skeletons that shiver down your spine...

[@benolifts]

Luckily I didn't see any of them

[@beedslolkuntus2070]

Beno Actually, your very lucky of that, I was expecting someone’s dead corpse. It’s just sad to see all these abondant like that

[@markeightfourone8693]

Are any insects ever found while exploring? Or do they stop at a certain level down?

[@44samul]

24:21 those look like backup generators

[@TonyLing]

Four of them no less, and Allen West switchgear, the factory for which stood at my current place of work.

[@crazyleyland5106]

And the engines appear to be Ruston. Very fine industrial Diesel engine manufacturer, once.

[@invictus-1B9]

I was in a bunker 86 meters at the lowest point with all the rooms combined surface area of about 16km2

[@JackAndEmilyVids]

How did you find that

[@beedslolkuntus2070]

Can someone explain what those machines do?

[@benolifts]

There are large air filters for filtering radioactive air (which probably have not done that much) and generators to keep the power on if the power stations have been destroyed

[@beedslolkuntus2070]

Beno Do you think structures like this should be just left like this? I mean, it's a tunnel. So I get it but what about some buildings which are kept 10 years before demolishing....

[@skullmangaming1413]

Was this bunker used in war times to protect people from getting bombed by airplanes?

[@benolifts]

It was originally in the 1940s, then it became a cold war bunker to protect government officials from nuclear disasters.

[@alicanharryreilly8353]

Hidden London Gem Secrets of the London Underground

[@ahuman9143]

What was this used for and when was it abandoned

[@benolifts]

It was used in WW2 and the cold war. It is still technically active today but it no longer serves any purpose.

[@ahuman9143]

@@benolifts thanks

[@johnrauner2515]

@@ahuman9143 It was originally built as a command and control bunker during WWII. Then during the cold war years it was used to house a very large telephone exchange because it was realised how vulnerable all the surface exchanges were around the country. Putting the exchange this far underground protected it from nuclear attack. The short tunnel with all the cable management racks along the sides was what was supposed to be a network of underground cable tunnels but it was never completed. There were 2 reasons for this. Firstly it dawned on them there were already suitable cable tunnels used by the underground. Secondly, there was no avoiding the vulnerable surface connection points to the rest of the telephone network which pretty much defeated the whole point. This is why this bunker has so much stuff in it that was never finished. A good example of rushing in all gung ho with out properly thinking through what they were doing. The exchange was operational for a number of decades.

[@alexatkin]

@@benolifts Well as you pointed out in the video, it likely serves water, gas, electricity.

[@ec8451]

I'm assuming that this place was built during the cold war?

[@nahmacoyle2870]

What we’re The makes of the different lifts in the tunnel?

[@benolifts]

The original wartime bunker had 1940s Marryat Scott lifts. The entire bunker was converted in the cold war. The main lifts are 1950s Otis modernized with ThamesValley DC pulsed AC. The dumb waiter is 1950s Otis. The lift from the underground station to the bunker is a Hoisting appliance co lift. The lift in the blocked up shaft with a building on top is unknown. The lift to the rear exit with mezzanine for the unfinished staircase is also Unknown.

[@no-damn-alias]

So just like in Moscow there's a bunker system connected to the tube

[@roentgen226]

Amazing!

[@sgstuff1152]

someguy099 [ADMISSION] Hi

[@roentgen226]

@@sgstuff1152 Hellooo!

[@pierreuntel1970]

Nice place to grow weed

[@crazyleyland5106]

Not joking, some old nuclear bunkers have been used as cannabis grows- not so deep underground though. Beno did explore such a bunker in Kent, luckily disused. It had a huge number of plug sockets.

[@S2artrail]

Is that a leftover bunker from the war?

[@benolifts]

Yes, from both WW2 and cold war.

[@georgesmith8113]

👍👍😎

[@rrexploration7493]

Heeeey man, awesome amount of information here!! Appreciate it, would you disclose the entrance at all? I'm heading down to london soon and would love to have a look with my lad. All the best mate 🙏

[@benolifts]

Sorry, it is the wonderful world of urbex where everyone is bitter at each other and ultra protective of their sites! This bunker is a very fort over site amongst urbexers. There is a lot of anger and jealousy about this bunker, with some urbexers wanting to keep people out. Some of the nut jobs from 28 days think it is their right to have exclusive access to the best places, and they go mental when they find out anyone has visited "their" bunker. It is ridiculous. As for myself, I wouldn't want access information getting spread. The best way to visit places like this is to get involved with people who do these sorts of places, and over time if you build up trust with people they will show you places. Although I would stay well clear of anyone from 28 days.

[@rrexploration7493]

@@benolifts i appreciate that totally buddy, we've done most of Milton Keynes and surrounding areas and we do use 28days as well.. not many other sources. We have an old ww2 map found in a wall i was renovating but they roc posts are 100s of miles away so needs to be planned... Love the videos mate 🙏🙏

[@Mike-jx2uj]

Beno you should go back with wellies !!

[@benolifts]

Yes!

[@osc7evenguy84]

What are the bunkers used for?

[@benolifts]

This one was a WW2 civilian bunker which was converted for Cold war government and key infrastructure use, and has since been semi decommissioned, and is now on standby in case it is ever needed to be put back into use.

[@bakedbeanishdragon]

At 15:34, what did you mean when you said 'one of the tunnels that goes across london' are there more of these?

[@benolifts]

There are multiple networks of tunnels that go across London. These include water, gas, electricity, phones, mail rail, London underground.

[@sgstuff1152]

I came from an Arriva bus.

[@awesometrainsandbuses]

I came from an stagecoach bus

[@ΦωτηςΦ-γ1λ]

Sorry to ask this but i am new.Can someone explain to me what is the purpose of this channel what is the content for?

[@TheDragonFire123]

Urbex. Urban exploring.

[@forza223bowe5]

Is there any asbestos there ?

[@EWPA14]

I heard most of it has been removed.

[@nbvhoho2738]

Missing people

[@JackAndEmilyVids]

5:41 😂😂😂😂😂 yuck 🤮

[@vicsilva7293]

Is it safe since we are on the brink of ww3

[@benolifts]

We can't be that close to WW3 in terms of a nuclear attack, as all of the London bunkers are in an inactive state. They are not fully abandoned in case they are ever needed. It would take them a couple of months to bring them back into use. This shows that while the government is keeping the option there, they have no reason to believe that a nuclear attack will happen.

[@windowsxpnt2347]

Hey austin this is guys

[@blue.light.fazbear]

Hey Austin this is your nan

[@zarchiwizowany-kothyscher9498]

Is this place abandoned?

[@sgstuff1152]

KOTHYSCHER Hmm not sure but if im not wrong its still functional

[@benolifts]

Semi abandoned

[@sgstuff1152]

Beno hi

[@whizzytheelephantadventure1063]

Eww the thumbnail animation shows the toliet. 🤢🤢🤢