Around 4 years ago workers on the green found an aging manhole cover over a 30 foot deep white tiled shaft that descended to a horizontal tunnel leading in one direction to the station and the other to Gordon Road. Steps to the tunnel were degraded and are unsafe to use.
Having looked into it (ha ha) the Council found no records of the shaft's construction and the MoD couldn't help. There's been speculation that it could be linked somehow to a WW2 air raid shelter north of the diagonal road across the Green or perhaps early works to extend the District Line to Uxbridge which were subsequently abandoned. But that's only speculation.
Council Parks officers have fenced off the hole since discovering it to safeguard the public. Working with limited budgets, they are I think trying to figure out what best to do with it. |