Tunnels and Weir in Hancocks Wood, Loftus
Perhaps one of reasons this website ever came to exist, as a small child I came here many times and always wanted to find out what was down the tunnels.
So I finally took the opportunity to don my wellies and head torch and have a look, pictures aren’t fantastic as I only had a pocket camera with me.
The largest tunnel is perhaps 25m long and turns underneath the railway embankment before emerging on the other side.
A second short tunnel leads into someone private garden, looks like they have a personal waterfall.
Nearby the main track also leads under the railway embankment, the bridge is surprisingly large suggesting this route used to be a lot more important than it is now.
I’m not sure why the weir exists, old maps seem to suggest it probably only arrived with the railway, and I can find no evidence of there ever being a building on the site, although the place always gave the impression to be there had been something here.
There a photo of the same area in the 1960s here
