Rotundas?

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Postby Timchilli » Wed Jun 08, 2005 2:43 pm

Vladimir wrote:Is it STV or BBC and does anybody know what will happen to the old BBC centre :?:

It's the new BBC building and it's shaping up to be as horrendous as its surrounding "architecture".

I'll post the video clip once I find somewhere capable of storing a 3.3MB video file.

It was no mean feat getting in there (allegedly).

Tim.
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Postby Pgcc93 » Sat Nov 19, 2005 2:13 am

A rare pic of the vehicular section of the Glasgow harbour tunnel c.1956 note the absence of the large diameter water main which dominates the pedestrian tunnel!

Image
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Postby McShad » Sat Nov 19, 2005 8:03 am

WOW! what a picture!!!

Where did you get that?
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Postby Pgcc93 » Sat Nov 19, 2005 10:44 am

McShad wrote:
Where did you get that?



The secret tunnel database of course. :wink:
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Postby McShad » Sat Nov 19, 2005 8:45 pm

The rotunda history and pictures are really interesting to me... since I work slap bang beside the north rotunda
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Re: Rotundas?

Postby scotgio » Thu Feb 28, 2008 10:19 pm

This is quite interesting, i've never even paid the slightest attention to these buildings, I never even noticed there was one on either side of the river! Must have been quite something to see horse drawn carts travelling through in its day. The folks who took those shots of the interior of one of the Rotunda's, you get to see the tunnel?
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Re: Rotundas?

Postby Buzby » Wed Mar 05, 2008 9:22 pm

There's no access or views of the original tunnels now - at the North Rotunda, as you enter the dining complex there's a locked door to your left that gives (would give) access to the stairs down, I'm told Scottish Water hold the keys. On the South Rotunda, it was completely refloored for an exhibition arounf hte time of the Garden Festivl, with a trap leading to a vertical ladder - so in answer to your question, no - the work undertaken in the 80's & 90's blocked off the great views of the stairwells and lift remnanrts leading to the twin carriage tunnels below.
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Re: Rotundas?

Postby grantgrant » Mon Mar 10, 2008 2:17 pm

I've just read a claim on this site that there was a pedestrian tunnel only and no vehicular ones:

http://fdelaitre.club.fr/Clyde.htm


"Now disused and locked. The first floor has been removed although the steel frame still remains and the lift shaft has been bricked up. The stairs are accessed through a door from the outside and the tunnel is reportedly still navigable although the lighting has been removed.... The North access was blocked when the North Rotunda was converted into a casino. There is only one tunnel about 10' in diameter and not three. Access to three tunnels from each Rotunda would have required a large underground access area which does not exist. The rumour that the tunnel was used for horse drawn vehicles is a myth. The tunnel was a foot tunnel only and appears as such on old maps. We always knew it as the foot tunnel. The lifts were hydraulic water lifts as were so many buildings along the Clyde and many of the lifts still work. Water from the river was pumped through 6" diameter mains with a wall thickness of 1.5" having huge elliptical compression joints held together by two 1.5" diameter bolts. Last visited January 2000. We were not allowed into the tunnel for safety reasons and were not in fact there to see the tunnel but for another totally unrelated project.

there seems to be plenty of prime source material though suggesting there were 3 tunnels (as most folk here agree)


also found an interesting article about it being refurbished in 1998 (including details of how to access it)

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_q ... _n21338981
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Re: Rotundas?

Postby Grahame » Mon Mar 10, 2008 6:52 pm

grantgrant wrote: There is only one tunnel about 10' in diameter and not three. Access to three tunnels from each Rotunda would have required a large underground access area which does not exist. The rumour that the tunnel was used for horse drawn vehicles is a myth.

Well that's just bollocks, as this thread and your second site link clearly demonstrate. I can (vaguely)remember walking through the pedestrian tunnel back in the '70's. Took my bike down the rickety stairs and cycled through the tunnel! The big vehicle lifts clearly had large platforms on them for carrying vehicles, and went down below the level of the pedestrian tunnel. I don't know what a hydraulic water lift looks like but I'm guessing they don't need to be vehicle carrying!
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Re: Rotundas?

Postby HollowHorn » Mon Mar 10, 2008 7:37 pm

Harbour Tunnel rotunda, with horse-drawn traffic
Image
Last edited by HollowHorn on Mon Mar 10, 2008 9:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Rotundas?

Postby grantgrant » Mon Mar 10, 2008 8:36 pm

do you think the vehicular tunnels were filled in, or just sealed?

it seems like such a big operation to fill in 2 tunnels of that length.
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Re: Rotundas?

Postby HollowHorn » Mon Mar 10, 2008 9:53 pm

View of both Rotundas from the mid '60s:
Image

What is the tall structure attached to the side of the Finnieston Rotunda? Something to do with the hydraulics? The southern Rotunda has one too as can be seen in the first photo
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Re: Rotundas?

Postby grantgrant » Mon Apr 14, 2008 11:14 am

Unless 'mystery submission person" has their dates wrong then there maybe is access to the other tunnels. They claim to have visited in 2003 and describe it as being in a very poor state, whereas mackenzie construction claim to have tidied up the one which is know to still exist in 2002.

The Mackenzie report claims the other tunnels were filled in during 1989 (the hg main article on the tunnels says 1986). I tried to get hold of one of the references in the Mackenzie construction article 'Glasgow closes a subway chapter' (new civil engineer) but have had no luck in tracking it down.

Someone must know if they were (or how they were) filled in/blocked off/flooded as it would not be an easy operation to do by one person alone.

Are the 2 other tunnels still there?
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Re: Rotundas?

Postby PaulK » Mon Mar 09, 2009 1:21 am

Some pictures I took of the Rotundas in the mid eighties. Apologies for the quality of some as they are scanned from contact prints.

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Re: rotunda used as tv location

Postby the researcher » Tue Nov 29, 2011 7:12 pm

Gazzathecoigne wrote:
mustardman wrote:Well, I remember seeing an episode of Taggart, and there was one scene where they were chasing some guy through the tunnel. Can anyone else remember this??


I remember this one. Mark McManus was chasing an IRA hitman through the tunnel, when the terrorist detonated a bomb on himself. The awaiting detectives beleived Jim Taggart to have perished in the explosion, only for the cult hero to appear covered in suit from a doorway to utter the words "Happy New Year."

Class

I may be wrong but did one of the rotundas not feature in a crime drama called the plansman starring robbie coletraine as am sure during the escape after the robbery he appeared through a door in the rotunda but am sure the subway was also involved as there was a brief shot of shields road subway
(plansman someone who sets up a robbery and supplied equipment, cars etc in return for a share of the stolen money) as am sure there was another scene where he threw a mobile phone out a car window while crossing the kingston bridge cant remember if it was stv or bbc that made it but think it was early naughties
THE FLYING SCOT MADE BY RATTRAYS IN GLASGOW THE BEST BICYCLE EVER MADE
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