Volume Six - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - Select Aspects - The subway under the river Ely story . . .

My dear wife, Julie wrote on June 30, 2014 »

'I lived in Cogan, Cawnpore Street. I have a twin sister called Judith, my name is Julie, and we used to go down to the docks when we were about 8-9 years old in the mid 1950's. We were strictly forbidden to go anywhere near the docks as there were those "foreign" ships down there and you never know what might happen!!! My parents believed that we would both get whisked away overnight! However, like children everywhere, we couldn't resist the temptation to have a peek and would walk down to the docks under the bridge at Cogan Station, along the dock road, past the pontoon. We went to the entrance of the tunnel and would go half way through the tunnel, but it would scare us too much to venture right through to the other side. It was a real surprise when we both eventually worked at the Dock where we both met our husbands at the Penarth Dock Engineering Company Limited.'

A contribution from the Cardiff Bay Yacht Club on December 07, 2014 »

Jane Hall, the Commodore of the Cardiff Bay Yacht Club, kindly forwarded an article which was published some time ago in the CBYC club magazine, Bear Essentials. She did, however, spill the beans about the antics of her ex husband . . . 'He told me years ago that he used to ride through the subway with his “gang” on their bikes and smash the lights in the ceiling, which may explain why it was always dark!' Thanks to Jane, for her contribution - thanks to her ex for giving me wet feet on one occasion!

The Captain wrote on August 01, 2014 »

Caught by the Cops! My friend and I twice visited the derelict Subway in the early 1970's. The first time we were able to get right through, or nearly as the door at the Ferry Rd end was shut and we couldn't open it. Dark and damp, and quite scary descending the fairly steep slope into the dark with just our small torches to light the way. I remember how the cast iron rings seemed to rotate and give a dizzying effect in the shadows caused by our torches.

The second time we went in all seemed normal, we could see the tunnel stretching away in front of us. But then suddenly we were up to our knees in cold water! The tunnel had flooded since our last visit and the water was so clear that we didn't spot it until we'd walked into it.