Secret passageway... how could I resist?

[Rattus]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/feb/26/westminster-secret-passageway-discovery-reveals-169-year-old-graffiti

"A secret passageway discovered in the Palace of Westminster has revealed 169-year-old graffiti from early Chartist stone masons and bricklayers claiming to be fond of “ould ale”."

An interesting story, but with a specific family history angle too:

“We would love to hear from any descendants of Tom Porter or his colleagues and invite them to see where their relatives once worked.”

A BBC article (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-51630630) names the colleagues:

"The men can be traced in the 1851 census returns as Richard Condon, James Williams, Henry Terry, Thomas Parker and Peter Dewal."

Fascinating stuff.

[Nick_Ips]

Fascinating stuff.

Thanks for the links, it is a really interesting story, although it isn't clear how "secret" the passageway really was.

It was worrying that the locked cupboard had been ignored as possibly just an "electricity cupboard" - if so then why were there no periodic safety inspections being done? It makes me wonder whether the risk of the whole place burning down is being underplayed. 

I'm also intrigued about the historic lightbulb - clearly marked '230v' in an era when 240v was the standard. Could it be they were marked 230v to make them appear non-standard and so further discourage theft by wayward MPs? ("Property of HM Government" perhaps not being sufficient!)

[KGarrad]

Fascinating stuff.

Thanks for the links, it is a really interesting story, although it isn't clear how "secret" the passageway really was.

It was worrying that the locked cupboard had been ignored as possibly just an "electricity cupboard" - if so then why were there no periodic safety inspections being done? It makes me wonder whether the risk of the whole place burning down is being underplayed. 

I'm also intrigued about the historic lightbulb - clearly marked '230v' in an era when 240v was the standard. Could it be they were marked 230v to make them appear non-standard and so further discourage theft by wayward MPs? ("Property of HM Government" perhaps not being sufficient!)

Nominal voltage in the UK is 230v
Historically 220v-240v.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_electricity_by_country

[ThrelfallYorky]

I'd seen this item on the BBC website - fascinating! Could be a good place for elusive M.P.s to hide away??

[John915]

Good evening,

Just how secret this passageway was is not clear. It must have at least one other entrance or it had no purpose. Maybe even several other doors lead into it but nothing has been said about this.

I'm more inclined to think that just this one entrance had been lost. After WW2 when restoration work was carried out. It had been bricked up so obviously had no further use and on the one side had been panelled over. So why the carefully crafted secret door, with lock which no one noticed.

I'm sure also that the dept of works have all the plans of the building going back centuries. So the passageway would be known to some on the maintainance crew at least.

John915

[ThrelfallYorky]

Ah yes, that's almost certainly right, John915, but it doesn't make as good a story, does it?

[Chris Doran]

I'm also intrigued about the historic lightbulb - clearly marked '230v' in an era when 240v was the standard. Could it be they were marked 230v to make them appear non-standard and so further discourage theft by wayward MPs? ("Property of HM Government" perhaps not being sufficient!)

There was no nationwide standard in the 1950s when that bulb is presumed to have been installed. Voltages varied at least 220-240V and possibly wider. Many electrical items came with "voltage selector plugs" on the back that you moved according to where you lived. 230V may have been the standard in Westminster, but ours on the outskirts of London was 220V. Standardisation to 240V came in sometime in the 1960s and, like the introduction of Channel 5, people were sent house-to-house to adjust these plugs and supply free 240V light bulbs for the 220V ones that would blow early. A neighbour's radio didn't work after the change and as the local electronics whizz-kid I got called in to fix it -- the 240V plug setting hadn't been wired up internally by the manufacturer!

What I find surprising, given the oft-mentioned shortage of space in the Palace of Westminster, is that no one had gone around looking for hidey-holes like this and converted it into at least a store room. I wonder what else will be found in the restoration works?

[ThrelfallYorky]

...Perhaps there'll be another one with the skeleton of a long-trapped suffragette behind it, trying to make a fool of the census, with Lord Lucan sitting on Shergar in there as well?