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

The only memory that remains on our side of the river is this cast iron surround, bearing the date 1899, which has now been erected over the door, on one wall of CBYC’s boatyard winch house.

The Subway opened on 14 May 1900 and was finally closed more than 100 years later, in September 2003. It had proved a great success. In its early days, the toll was one old penny per person, tuppence for a pushbike and fourpence for a pram. Tolls were collected up to 1937, although the revenues were never impressive - between 1934 and 1939 the average revenue amounted to just £77 per annum. The subway was used by some 355 persons per week on average.