Camden Town station is on the Northern
line and is at a point where the two Northern line routes, Edgware and High
Barnet, come together. On the western leg (Edgware) Mornington Crescent and
Chalk Farm stations are on either side of it whilst on the eastern leg (High
Barnet) King's Cross/St Pancras and Kentish Town are on each side of
it.
The exit/entrance area of this station,
at street level, can become very congested especially at weekends with people
making their way to/from the various markets.
The Subterranea Brtitannica (Sub Brit)
website (visit
link) tells about Camden Town's Deep Level Shelter:
"Following my photographic visit to
the Belsize Park deep level shelter on the 27th January I arranged a 2nd
photographic visit, this time to the Camden Town shelter. There are two
entrances, one in Buck Street, N.W.1. adjoining the covered market (this is now
only used as and emergency exit), and the other in Underhill Street, N.W.1,
behind the Marks and Spencer car park.
Just inside the main entrance there
are a number of small rooms now used as an office by the archive company who
rent the shelter. A few yards inside the door is the top of the lift shaft with
twin spiral staircases around it, one to each of the lower levels. There is a
map on the wall titled 'Camden Town deep shelter' showing the layout. Adjacent
to the lift shaft a door leads into a small room housing the transformer for
powering the lift, (manufactured by Hackbridge of Walton on Thames) and a metal
cabinet that had originally contained a mercury arc rectifier. According to one
of the staff the rectifier has now been removed, the room was full of junk so we
couldn't get across to it. We descended to the upper landing, approximately 50
feet below the level of the northern line. The lift opened into a well lit
curving passage. Immediately there was a door on the right which opened into a
long room containing the fan which was of a different design to that at Belsize
Park. Beyond the fan was a rusty and rotten grill in the floor leading to the
sump. The ladder was still in place but having descended into the sump at
Belsize Park we decided not to on this occasion.
Beyond the sump, another door led
into a switch room with a lot of electrical boxes on one wall and two floor
standing cabinets containing rheostats for controlling the speed of the fan.
None of this equipment appeared to be operational. There was a large schematic
diagram of the switch gear on the back of the door labelled 'Home Office deep
shelter'
We returned to the main passage
which soon straightened out. On our right were a male and female toilet block,
each with a wall in front of the open entrance for privacy. Both rooms have been
stripped of all fittings and contain `dexion' shelving and are used for storage.
Evidence of the positions of WC's, urinals and sinks were visible. Beyond the
toilets is a crossroads where the entrance tunnel meets the main shelter tunnel
approximately one quarter along its length. Unlike Belsize Park where the two
shelter tunnels are fairly close together, at Camden they are separated by about
150 feet. We moved on to the second shelter tunnel at a second crossroads. There
is a long room straight ahead which originally housed a medical post. We turned
left along the main two level tunnel which is lined along both sides with
shelving containing cardboard boxes. Some of the shelving is modern dexion while
other shelving is made from original bed frames. Approximately half way along
the tunnel a wide stairway leads down to a lower cross passage and the lower
deck. A few yards along the cross passage a door leads to steps up 50 feet,
originally connecting to the northern line platforms at Camden Town Station.
There is some shelving along one side of the stairs but nothing is stored there
yet. Climbing the stairs the atmosphere becomes very humid with the temperature
steadily climbing. At the top of the stairs are some original air filtration
units and a sliding metal grill giving access to the northern line platforms.
They way through has been bricked up.
Returning to the upper landing, a
second narrow stairway again leads down to the lower landing with a second
parallel cross passage containing two toilet blocks. Back on the upper level the
next section of passage contains all its original bunks on both sides, as yet
not used for storage. On the right hand side there is a single bunk almost at
floor level, a twin bunk above it, one half hinged, and another single bunk
above that. On the opposite side the bunks are at right angles to the main
passage which is divided into bays. Each bay contains six bunks, two stacks of
three singles. There are two original signs lying on the floor in this area. One
has an arrow pointing to 'Underhill Street entrance' and the other has an arrow
pointing to 'Buck Street entrance'.
About three quarters of the way
along the tunnel is another cross roads, left to the parallel bore and right to
another male/female toilet block followed by a door on the left to the Buck
Street lift and a door straight ahead leading to another fan and another switch
room, similar in design to the Underhill Street end. There is a Ministry of
Works notice on the wall stating that any staff caught smoking will be
dismissed. The lift is operational with twin spiral staircase going around it.
We went up in the lift to the Buck Street entrance. At the top of the lift is
another Ministry of Works sign and room containing an original Hackbridge
transformer for powering the lift and another metal cabinet that would have
housed the mercury arc rectifier. The cabinet door was jammed but none of the
equipment appeared to be working. Round the other side of the lift shaft was the
motor room. The motor appeared to be a more recent addition. Steps lead up to a
winding passage leading to the emergency exit. This passage is rubbish strewn
and appears to be little used.
Returning to the main tunnel, we are
now in the final quarter of the shelter. At the far end, there is a door in the
end wall with a final cross passage to the parrallel tunnel and a steps down to
the lower landing at each end.
Most of the tunnels and cross
passages, toilet areas, medical room, wardens post etc. are in use for document
/ computer tape and video tape storage. Unfortunately, because of the use that
the shelter is now put to we had to limit the party to three (Nick Catford, Dan
McKenzie & Tony Page). As at Belsize Park, we were given a free hand to go
anywhere and photograph anything and spent around three hours in the
shelter.
Nick Catford 30th March
2000"