Take a trip through the hidden underground tunnels of Sheffield not many people know exist
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On a sunny morning, I was invited to meet up with the volunteers from the Sheaf & Porter Rivers Trust to take part in training ahead of the upcoming summer Megatron tours
This was a morning unlike many that I’ve experienced before.
As I put on my newly-bought waders, I ignored the odd glances from passersby before meeting the group of volunteers who will be spending 16 weeks of their summer taking explorers on twice-daily tours of the city’s underground – where they will venture into the depths of the Megatron.
For those of you not quite familiar with the aforementioned moniker, the Megatron culvert is a large labyrinth of tunnels hidden beneath Sheffield Railway Station, dating back to the mid-1800s.
It was originally built to contain the overflow of water from the rivers Sheaf (from which Sheffield got its name), Porter and the Don. Over the past 200-years, this system of rivers has been misused, polluted, broken up and even covered. However the Sheaf & Porter Rivers Trust is doing its best to uncover and restore these historic waterways.
Tours are manned-by a number of volunteers who have given up their time to share their passion for the ecology of the city’s waterways, with the money generated from these tours funding things such as river clean-ups, produce plans for river improvements as well as the installation of ‘light wells’ to cast some light onto these hidden rivers.
After a volunteer briefing at Matilda St. Pocket Park, previously covered by a timber yard before its uncovering, we dropped down into what feels like a stream but is actually the River Porter to make our way around to our first test, a knees-bent crouched scramble through the Porter Culvert underneath the car park of BBC Sheffield, the Sheffield Archives and Red Tape Studios.
Just ten-minutes in, I was relieved to have had the foresight to buy some waders to do this (I got some on Amazon for less than £30), especially after seeing the varying water depths. No doubt they’ll come in handy during the city’s occasional floods also.
I’d definitely recommend wearing proper sturdy footwear, people have done it in trainers. But you don’t know exactly what’s hidden in the water’s depths, so suit up accordingly.
We make our way through the Sheaf & Porter Confluence, which leads us beneath Sheffield Station and the location of the first (of hopefully numerous) ‘lightwells’, casting natural light into the tunnels for the first time in 150-years. The Trust chair, Simon Ogden, is on hand to impart numerous nuggets of historical insight throughout.
It’s a huge moment for the trust, which has painstakingly spent years trying to change the ecology and attitude towards the city’s many abused river systems. It’s also a neat natural form of air-conditioning for those on the surface-level.
Stepping and wading through the water ways, is a great experience and one requiring slight agility in between avoiding the slippery algae-buildup on rocks, wall-walking through water around broken weirs and crouching through some tight gaps.
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To learn about and see historical elements of the city’s industrial past is great too. We spotted a number of aged grindstones, crucible caps, even some tools and randomly, a creepy floating baby-doll – which is now positioned on an outwardly jutting stone in one of the tunnel walls.
Stalactites have begun to form in some of the tunnels below Sheffield Station, but don’t touch these, and its team sometimes enter the tunnels to scrape and remove stalagmites – preventing these from growing upwards.
At Broad Street West, the culvert transforms into a large single arch, you can see from the looming arch just how it acquired the name ‘Megatron’ by urban explorers – who playfully competed with rival Manchester-based explorers who had a named a culvert there ‘Optimus Prime’, after the comic and movie series ‘Transformers’. Spoiler: Sheffield’s is bigger… and better.
The first section is built from huge stone blocks, which previously accommodated the old Castlefolds Wholesale Market. This is followed by a shorter stretch of blue brick under Exchange Street (the chamber’s highest point), it was built around 1890 to serve as a ramp for electric trams travelling from Rotherham to central Sheffield.
Wildlife is beginning to thrive once more. The River Porter is home to trout, a variety of birds (spot the Heron), and a number of invertebrates are returning. There are even bats in some of the tunnels, the Daubenton's bat (a water bat) has been seen roosting in the dark ceilings and brickwork of the Megatron culverts.
The tour is great fun, but also comes with a continual health and safety warning depending on conditions. At points parts of the water can reach chest height, and if there has been rainfall this will have an impact on the current and depth.
Conditions can change rapidly, so it’s helpful to have the support of the experienced caving guides from Howl Bushcraft and Trust – who impart their knowledge, opinions and share their passion with humour and refreshing honesty.
As we begin making our way back above ground, I realise that what was essentially a less than two-miles water walk was an informative and tiring one. But my, what an invigorating and exciting tour it was.
The Sheaf and Porter River Trust Megatron Tour has sold out for July, but ticket releases for August, and September will be announced later on its Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SheafAndPorterRiversTrust
For more information, and to book your place on a tour, please visit: https://www.trybooking.com/uk/book/search?keyword=Megatron&location=&date=