You are looking for an adventure but you don’t want to leave Exeter? No problem, because an underground adventure is waiting for you directly in the centre of Exeter: the Exeter’s Underground Passages. If you are ready for narrow walls, an impressive atmosphere and an unforgettable experience for the whole family, visit the Exeter Underground Passages and find out about what is hidden under Exeter’s city centre.

But before I tell you about my experience there, let me give you a short introduction to the Underground Passages. The first part of the passages was built almost seven hundred years ago to supply the cathedral with reliable and safe drinking water. About hundred years later, the city as well needed more water, so the passages were expanded. After Exeter had grown more and more and cholera had killed about 700 people in 1832, the passages fell out of use and were only rediscovered in the 20th century. Today, they are probably one of the coolest attractions in the whole of Exeter.

When you first arrive there, you will be shown a short and interesting film about the history of the passages. And if you then put your helmet on, you are ready to go. The tour through the Underground Passages takes about half an hour. Though the rumble of the busy streets in Exeter can still be heard, the tour through the passages takes you to a different world, an Exeter which does not exist anymore. Imagining the circumstances under which the workers, partly still children at the age of seven or eight, had to build these passages just leaves you astonished. Five to seven metres under Exeter, the ways to walk in this unique experience in the whole of England get very low and narrow. This is why you are committed to wear a helmet and should also put on comfortable shoes (I tell you this from my own experience). If you think that the ways are not narrow enough for you, you can decide to go through an even lower part of the passages. But watch out: the ceiling of these parts are partly only 70 centimetres high. So this is obviously nothing for claustrophobics.

The Crawling Passage Exeter's Underground Passages

And the lovely guides also provide some very interesting facts to you: Can you imagine that during the air raids in 1942, about 300 people used the passages as an air raid shelter? Or that the 400 first visitors to the passages after it has been rediscovered after World War I had to crawl through it? Considering that your visitor group will probably be fifteen people, you can probably imagine how packed the passages must have been with many hundred people in them.

After having finished this adventurous tour through Exeter’s underground world, you can take a look at the detailed exhibition which is located in the Underground Passages. There you will learn even more about the fascinating history of this part of Exeter. If you are looking for an adventure during your city trip, the Exeter Underground Passages are definitely the perfect place for you. The admission fee to the passages is 7£, but this money is really well spent. And in certain times of the year, there are also special events taking place in the Underground Passages. Can you imagine how wonderfully spooky it must be to walk through Exeter’s underground on Halloween?

Exeter's Underground Passages

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Exeter's Underground Passages
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Exeter's Underground Passages

The Passages were built to house the pipes that brought clean drinking water into medieval Exeter. A guided tour of Exeter's Underground Passages is a memorable event - narrow, dark, interesting and exciting.

1 Comments

Comments

  1. Macke
    Wonderful story. I would like to get there as soon as possible!

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