The secret vault under the Clifton suspension bridge!

National World - LocalTV

Hidden beneath one of Bristol’s most iconic landmarks lies a secret world — and it’s just reopened to the public. The Suspension Bridge Vaults, sealed for over one hundred and fifty years, are now welcoming visitors again. Discovered in two thousand and two and carved into the rock beneath the Leigh Woods tower, these twelve stone chambers reveal the daring Victorian engineering behind the bridge. Tours are limited — and tickets are going fast

Transcript

00:00So I am here right in the heart of Vault 5 which is right under the Clifton Suspension Bridge which

00:05is one of the most iconic and recognisable structures in the southwest. Let's find out

00:10all about the vaults and why they're actually here. So we're currently in Vault number 5,

00:15so this is 5 out of 12 of the vaulted chambers that we have in the Leewoods Abutment and this

00:20is one of our biggest chambers. So this is a system of 5 on this level and they're exactly

00:26the same below us. Tell me a little bit about the vaults then for anyone who doesn't know, what are

00:32they? So they're basically a really big structural support. So on top of us we have 4,000 tonnes of

00:39tower plus half the weight of the bridge as well. So Brunel when he was designing this designed these

00:46just to make sure that they were really really strong in holding up those towers or at least

00:50that's what we think. I mean have they lasted? Have they worked? Yeah they're pretty good. I mean

00:57we only discovered them in 2002 so for a long time they went completely unchecked. So considering that

01:04they've held up very very well and they get maintained so our engineers come in all the time

01:10pretty much to make sure that they're all safe and very secure especially because we have public tours in

01:16here so we have to make sure they're pretty safe. So in here is the vault which is very cool. It is so

01:24much larger than you think. Apparently you can fit five elephants stacked up together to the ceiling so

01:30if you have a look up here you will be able to see it and to get in and out there are these smaller

01:36tunnels that you will be able to see just behind me. They were made for the Victorians and that is why

01:44they are shorter than perhaps we are. So I think we can all just about fit in them but let's have a go

01:50and see.

01:50And then we are back in this vault. Yeah so we obviously had no idea they were here.

02:08A man called Ray Brown was changing the pavement slabs directly above us and when he lifted one of

02:14them up he basically found a hole. He didn't realise at the time but that was a tunnel that came down

02:21into these vaulted chambers. So as I'm sure you can imagine everyone was a little bit nervous. The

02:26bridge master wasn't the most happy but they sent engineers down and when they came down they pretty

02:32much looked like this. So over 90% of the bridge is original. The only things that we've really added

02:38in here is a more secure floor and fencing to keep people away from the dangerous bits. It was because

02:43he wanted the bridge to be longer but people didn't really trust suspension bridges and thought that

02:48if it was as long as he wanted it to be the bridge would have fallen down. So this platform is essentially

02:54the base of one side of the bridge so without this platform the bridge would fall down.

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