Join author and London tour guide Katie Wignall as she explores a huge network of abandoned underground tunnels beneath central London. Preserved by The Postal Museum, this historic subterranean railway carried letters across the capital from 1927 until its controversial closure in 2003.
You can follow Katie's work at: https://lookup.london/
At the turn of the 20th century, the streets of Victorian London were congested, polluted and dangerous. This was a problem for the Royal Mail, which was relied on to deliver the capital’s letters and packages on time. Their solution was to transport it underground.
Construction began on a six mile network of underground railway tunnels in 1915, stretching from east to west, connecting Paddington to Whitechapel. It would become the world’s first fully automated driverless railway, and at its peak, would carry 4 million letters around London every day.
In the first episode of History Hit's 'Hidden London' series, author and London tour guide Katie Wignall heads 21 metres underground to explore these spooky tunnels, which were abandoned two decades ago.
Later in the episode, Katie speaks to Chris Taft, Head of Collections at the Postal Museum, to find out why the Royal Mail's underground network was shut down.
You can follow The Postal Museum at the links below:
Twitter - @thepostalmuseum
Instagram - @thepostalmuseum
Tik Tok - @thepostalmuseum
Facebook – The Postal Museum
YouTube - @thepostalmuseum
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