Better Damp than Dead

Descend below to Victoria Tunnel to find out its history as a Victorian coal mine and as a WW2 air raid shelter!

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Victoria Tunnel as a Coal Mine

The tunnel was originally built as a wagonway for transporting coal from Spital Tongues Colliery to the River Tyne. The tunnel was in operation for only 19 years from 1842 and 1860s. After its life as a coal mine it was briefly used for growing mushrooms before it was converted to an air raid shelter. 

Victoria Tunnel as a WW2 Air Raid Shelter

In 1939, nearly a century after the tunnel was discontinued as a coal mine it was converted into an air raid shelter. It was cleaned, whitewashed, blast walls installed, and ‘living’ facilities like chemical toilets and bunk beds were put in. There was also canary yellow paint covered on some spots of the walls that would turn pink if gas was detected. 

Newcastle was regularly targeted between 1941-2 which meant 9,000 people were often crammed in the dark and damp tunnel. However, the people persevered as the attitude was ‘better damp than dead’. An inspector had even been sent in 1941 and concluded that ‘as a mining district, the persons who will shelter in this tunnel are possibly better fitted constitutionally to resist underground and damp conditions than those in the South’. 

Victoria Tunnel as a Tourist Attraction

The tunnel is now a Grade II listed structure and has been running tours since 1998 due to the Ouseburn Partnership. The tunnel was closed in 2006 for Newcastle County Council to carry out repairs. It finally reopened in 2009 with the Ouseburn Trust taking stewardship of the tunnel and tours in 2010. 

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A few other facts about the tunnel:

• Building took 2 years and 10 months – it started in 1939 with a grand opening in 1942
• The 400 tonnes of clay dug out from the tunnel was recycled into the 2.2 million bricks that were used to build it
• The full length of the tunnel was 2 ¼ miles
• The conversion to an air raid shelter was meant to cost £9,650, but this figure jumped when the installation of 16 entrances was proposed. In reality, it cost £37,000 and only seven entrances were created.
• As part of the tour you actually walk underneath Hadrian’s Wall
• The full length of the tunnel was 2 ¼ miles
• The tunnel is always 12 degrees Celsius no matter the season
• It was scouted as a possible cold war bunker with plans drawn up but no action taken
• At its deepest, you are 85ft below ground level

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Here are the photo highlights: