Kingsway telephone exchange
Encyclopedia
Kingsway telephone exchange was a Cold War
-era hardened telephone exchange
underneath High Holborn
in London
.
underneath Chancery Lane tube station
in the early 1940s. Although intended for use as an air raid shelter, like many of the deep level shelters it was not used for its intended purpose and was instead used as a government communications centre.
The site was given to the General Post Office (GPO) in 1949. The Post Office was then responsible for telephones as well as postage. The two-tunnel shelter was extended by the addition of four tunnels at right-angles to the originals. It was completed by 1954, and in 1956 it became the termination point for the first transatlantic telephone cable - TAT1
.
Throughout the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, Kingsway Trunk Switching Centre (as it became known) was a trunk switching centre and repeater station with Post Office engineering staff totalling over 200 at its peak. Also located on site was the Radio Interference Investigation Group, whose function was to prevent television viewers and radio listeners in north and central London from suffering interference to their service from external sources such as thermostats, fluorescent tubes and injection moulding equipment. The country's first Radiopaging terminal was also installed on this site in the 1970s.
The site had a staff restaurant, tea bar, games room and licensed bar. Its bar claimed to be the deepest in the United Kingdom, located at approximately 200 feet below street level. The site contained an artesian well and rations to maintain several hundred people for many months, ensuring a safe environment in case of nuclear attack.
By the early 1980s the site was subject to a phased closure after large quantities of blue asbestos were found on the site. By 1995 only the main distribution frame
was still in service. This reportedly has been removed.
In October 2008, British Telecom announced that the tunnels were for sale.
Telephone Exchange had three entrances. One (still existing) is next to a shopfront at 32 High Holborn
. Another is a goods lift on Furnival Street. The third one, a complex of ventilation towers and a passenger lift at Tooks Court, was demolished in 2001.
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
-era hardened telephone exchange
Telephone exchange
In the field of telecommunications, a telephone exchange or telephone switch is a system of electronic components that connects telephone calls...
underneath High Holborn
High Holborn
High Holborn is a road in Holborn in central London, England. It starts in the west near St Giles Circus, then goes east, past the Kingsway and Southampton Row, and continues east. The road becomes Holborn at the junction with Gray's Inn Road....
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
History
The Kingsway telephone exchange was built as a deep-level shelterLondon deep-level shelters
The London deep-level shelters are eight deep-level air-raid shelters that were built under London Underground stations during World War II.-Background:...
underneath Chancery Lane tube station
Chancery Lane tube station
Chancery Lane is a London Underground station in central London. It is on the Central Line between St. Paul's and Holborn stations. The station is located at the junction of High Holborn, Hatton Garden and Gray's Inn Road with subway entrances giving access to the ticket office under the roadway...
in the early 1940s. Although intended for use as an air raid shelter, like many of the deep level shelters it was not used for its intended purpose and was instead used as a government communications centre.
The site was given to the General Post Office (GPO) in 1949. The Post Office was then responsible for telephones as well as postage. The two-tunnel shelter was extended by the addition of four tunnels at right-angles to the originals. It was completed by 1954, and in 1956 it became the termination point for the first transatlantic telephone cable - TAT1
TAT-1
TAT-1 was the first submarine transatlantic telephone cable system. It was laid between Gallanach Bay, near Oban, Scotland and Clarenville, Newfoundland between 1955 and 1956. It was inaugurated on September 25, 1956, initially carrying 36 telephone channels.-History:The first transatlantic...
.
Throughout the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, Kingsway Trunk Switching Centre (as it became known) was a trunk switching centre and repeater station with Post Office engineering staff totalling over 200 at its peak. Also located on site was the Radio Interference Investigation Group, whose function was to prevent television viewers and radio listeners in north and central London from suffering interference to their service from external sources such as thermostats, fluorescent tubes and injection moulding equipment. The country's first Radiopaging terminal was also installed on this site in the 1970s.
The site had a staff restaurant, tea bar, games room and licensed bar. Its bar claimed to be the deepest in the United Kingdom, located at approximately 200 feet below street level. The site contained an artesian well and rations to maintain several hundred people for many months, ensuring a safe environment in case of nuclear attack.
By the early 1980s the site was subject to a phased closure after large quantities of blue asbestos were found on the site. By 1995 only the main distribution frame
Main distribution frame
In telephony, a main distribution frame is a signal distribution frame for connecting equipment to cables and subscriber carrier equipment . The MDF is a termination point within the local telephone exchange where exchange equipment and terminations of local loops are connected by jumper wires...
was still in service. This reportedly has been removed.
In October 2008, British Telecom announced that the tunnels were for sale.
Entrances
KingswayKingsway
-Canada:*Burnaby—Kingsway, a federal electoral district in British Columbia between 1988 and 1997*Kingsway , a road in Edmonton, Alberta *Kingsway , a road in Vancouver, British Columbia...
Telephone Exchange had three entrances. One (still existing) is next to a shopfront at 32 High Holborn
High Holborn
High Holborn is a road in Holborn in central London, England. It starts in the west near St Giles Circus, then goes east, past the Kingsway and Southampton Row, and continues east. The road becomes Holborn at the junction with Gray's Inn Road....
. Another is a goods lift on Furnival Street. The third one, a complex of ventilation towers and a passenger lift at Tooks Court, was demolished in 2001.
See also
- Guardian Exchange - ManchesterManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
- Anchor ExchangeAnchor ExchangeAnchor Exchange was an underground, hardened telephone exchange built in Birmingham, England in the 1950s. It is located nominally on Newhall St....
- BirminghamBirminghamBirmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...