Use as a World War II Air-raid Shelter
Other Uses
After having stood unused since 1860, for a short period during the 1920s the bottom end of the Tunnel was used as a mushroom farm.
A reference was found in the National Archives to the Victoria Tunnel Mushroom Company Ltd. This company was registered on the 14th May 1928 and the major shareholder with 120 of the 220 shares was Thomas Moore, a brewer of Gateshead. His wife held a further 10 shares.
The National Archives also hold a letter to the Registrar of Companies advising that "the Company ceased operations in July 1929, owing to the cultivation of mushrooms being unsuccessful".
During the early 1960s, the Tunnel was identified as a possible place of shelter during a nuclear attack although there doesn't seem to be any evidence of work being carried out to make it suitable for such a purpose.
Another short-lived use of the Tunnel was in 1990 as a venue for an art installation. As part of an art project, the Lebanese-born artist Mona Hatoum created Alive and Well which was displayed in the very end of the Tunnel, behind the barred gate. The piece was created from the heating elements of an electric fire which glowed in the dark.
Mona Hatoum is not the only artist to have used the Tunnel as a venue. As part of the renovation project 2006-2009, an interactive sound and light installation called Rainbow Codes has been created in the Tunnel by Adinda van't Klooster. For this installation the artist has focused on the themes of war, fear and nuclear weapons. The title refers to a series of code words used by the Ministry of Supply in the post-WWII period for British military research projects. The particular codes used specifically refer to nuclear weapons.
© Phil Thirkell April 2006, January 2010
Page updated: January 2010
