Ouse Burn Culvert

The Ouse Burn now enters a culvert 2150ft long, this is the entrance.
The dene was more than 100ft deep and steep sided so it was decided to culvert the Ouseburn
and landfill the dene with Newcastle's rubbish to improve access between the city and Heaton.

Work began in 1906 to build a 30ft wide, 20ft high steel reinforced tunnel.

I have cut and paste the following from
http://www.twsitelines.info/Siteline.nsf/SMR/487A569F9EC7C785802576AF003E6F2C?opendocument

As the Ouseburn leaves Jesmond Vale it disappears underground and re-emerges below Byker Bridge.
[That is not true, it is below the Ouseburn Viaduct that is a railway bridge, Byker bridge is the road bridge.]
Within an underground chamber it passes under Newington Road, Warwick Street and beneath the City Stadium.
The culvert is 2,150 feet (third of a mile) long. It was built in two stages in the early years of the
twentieth century. Before its construction, the Ouseburn cut a deep ravine through this part of the town
making access from the town to eastern suburbs difficult. The valley was more than 100 feet deep and steep sided.
Thus the stream was enveloped inside a ferro-concrete conduit, the valley was then infilled
(mostly with industrial waste) so gradually ground level rose, creating new land for housing and roads.
In fact the land was never built upon because by the time the valley had been totally infilled
(it was estimated that it would take ten years to fill the valley but tipping was still taking place in the 1940s),
laws had changed and it was no longer permitted to build on land fill sites.
The "City Stadium" was created here instead.
The culvert was built in an elliptical shape, 30 feet wide by 20 feet high.
The walls are only 8 inches thick at the top of the arch, because ferro-concrete is so strong.
Building work started in 1907 and completed in 1911. It cost £23,000 to build.
Workers broke into a lagoon of gravel which had to be scraped out and filled with concrete before
the construction of the culvert could be continued.
While the culvert was under construction the burn was diverted into millraces.
When the culvert was finished the burn was diverted back through it.
Used as air raid shelter in WW2. It could seat up to 3000 people and had its own sick bay.
A plan of the Council's air raid precaution, including the culvert and the Victoria Tunnel survives in TWAS.
In the 1970s the wartime entrnace to the culvert was boarded over to create an outdoor riding arena.
Today the culvert still carries the Ouseburn and part of the sewer system.

There are some interesting photographs at http://www.28dayslater.co.uk

This is it entering the culvert, the fencing around it is elaborate. They do not want you to fall in.

This is the exit at water level. The water quality can not be too bad as Bobby is drinking it.

Going up to the entrance and peering in one can see the end of the arch.

Going further the roof is massive concrete beams and there is a concrete footpath.

Looking back to the exit.

Going further, it gets darker and I have no torch, I make out a platform across the Ouse Burn.
The flash on the camera is not good enough. Will have to go back with a torch (or two).

This is the exit after the Ouseburn Railway Viaduct high up from the Byker Road Bridge.

The Ouse Burn has now entered the Ouseburn Valley which used to have a lot of industry,
but is now more tranquil and being cleaned up by the Ouseburn Trust.