Reigate Tunnels / Mines

Tunnels / Mines under Reigate.

Although some of the caves are natural, most are man made. The man made ones were actually an extensive network of Sand Mines which produced large quantities of Folkstone Sand, White Sand and Silver sand. Although most of the sand was mined 'officially' many of the tunnels were made by private individuals excavating tunnels from within their homes. As the tunnellers were amateurs some of them collapsed, including a section in 1869 which took out all the front walls of a row of cottages. An equally dramatic earlier collapse was that of a cricket pitch in the Castle Court in 1858. A shower of rain removed the players from the field a few moments before the pitch disappeared into the cavern below. In subsequent decades many of the openings to the myriads of tunnels have become blocked but the tunnels remain. Many of the larger tunnels and caverns were blocked up at the beginning of the First World War on the orders of the Military Authorities and the records of some tunnels and caves have been lost.

Mining for sand in these caves began to diminish with the onset of engines and mechanisation which resulted in open cast sand workings elsewhere. Although sand mines were a more effective way of obtaining sand with little waste, it required manual labour which was slow and low in output. An interesting point was that the mines were dug from the roof downwards and all the work was done by candlelight. During the First World War part of the cave network was used as overflow ammunition dump and arsenal, although apparently the local residents were not made aware of this at the time. Parts of the Cave network were used in the Second World War as air-raid shelters and still retain some of the 'conveniences'. Other later uses included cellers and wine vaults, as well as storage by Reigate Brewery. Some parts of the cave network are still in use today, currently being used as a number of shooting ranges. It is somewhat ironic that this use requires the importation of a different type of sand to be used as absorption material behind the targets.

In the 1980's there was a Wine bar / Pub in the caves, with access via a shop in the London Road that is still there. Most guides will tell you that these and other caves have been 'filled in by the Council', however there is little proof to this effect. In reality it is suspected that most of these tunnels and caves have simply had their access points blocked off, awaiting future historians to 're-discover' them.

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