Carlsbad Caverns visit 1994

In March 1994 I was in the USA for the first time. My first night was spent in El Paso, which is a border town in the extreme western corner of Texas. It stands on the bank of the Rio Grande with the Mexican state of Chihuahua on the other side. The next day I took the bus to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, it is 145 miles northeast of El Paso. The bus dropped me at White City near the Carlsbad Hotel and I then managed to get a lift to Carlsbad Caverns, 7 miles away.

The show cave entrance complex is situated in a hill overlooking the Chihuahuan Desert.

I paid for the Red Tour, $5 and took the elevator down 750' into the cave. I stepped out into a concrete world of shops, cafe, lunch room etc. A big chill immediately hit me as it was so much cooler than the outside.

I did the self guided walk of about an hour around the Big Room, which used to be the world's largest chamber until Sarawak Chamber in Mulu was found. The chamber is full of stal, some is huge. I saw the Bottomless Pit.

There was another tour, the Blue Route, which uses the natural entrance but the last tour was at 2 pm.

A very nice cave, one of the best I have seen, just a pity I couldn't see more. There was a good display in the exhibition area.

5 miles from Carlsbad is Lechuguilla Cave in the Guadalupe Mountains.

From Carlsbad Cavern I went to Carlsbad town, 27 miles away -

See more on the Carlsbad Caverns homepage.

Underground London - Manor Gardens Ice House

There is an ice house in Manor House Gardens in Lee, SE London, in the borough of Lewisham.

The Manor House was built in 1772 as a private residence for Thomas Lucas who was an important man in Guy's Hospital. Today it is used as a public library.

It is thought the ice house was built in 1773. Ice houses are buildings used to store ice throughout the year, mostly before refrigerators were invented. Some were insulated buildings, others were man-made underground chambers. They may have been close to natural sources of winter ice, if not, ice had to be transported in. During the winter, ice and snow would be taken into the ice house and insulated with straw or sawdust. It would remain frozen for many months, often until the following winter, and could be used as a source of ice during summer months.

It's not clear how long the Manor Gardens ice house was used for ice. At the end of the 19th century it was used as stabling for ponies belonging to a local builder. During the Second World War it was used as an air raid shelter for occupants of houses in Manor Lane. It was restored by the Lee Manor Society in 2000.

The ice house is made of brick. Ice would have come from the nearby lake. Access today is by a new staircase, this is looking in from the entrance -

An ice well was linked by corridors to the ice stores -

Open House London describe the ice house as

Grade II listed ice well and underground chambers (1773) in Manor House Gardens park, which provided ice for nearby Manor House, former home of Sir Francis Baring. Cited in 2002 Civic Trust Awards.

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Underground London - Crystal Palace subway

The Crystal Palace subway is slowly being restored and is occasionally open to the public. It dates back to Victorian times and was built to provide access to the Crystal Palace. It goes under the main road, Crystal Palace Parade -

The Crystal Palace was the huge iron and glass building used for the Great Exhibition in 1851 in Hyde Park. After the exhibition it was rebuilt at the top of Sydenham Hill in 1854 but was destroyed by fire in 1936.

There were 2 stations serving the Palace, one was the low level station and the other was a new high level one built in 1865 on the western side of Crystal Palace Parade. The subway was then built for access to the Palace. Image of the railway and Palace from Illustrated London News -

The Subway was designed with groined arches of coloured bricks and stone, resting on 15 columns. It was meant for first class passengers. It led to a roofed vestibule and 4 staircases. It opened at the end of 1865.

During the Second World War the subway was used as an air raid shelter. The subway was modified to provide sleeping areas, a canteen, lavatories and drains. The High Level Station closed in 1954. However the subway was still used as a short cut to access the motor racing in the park.

The subway survived but the roofed vestibule didn't. In 1972 the subway was listed by English Heritage. And since then it is slowly being restored.

Looking out to where the roofed vestibule used to be -

And looking back at the entrance -

See more on Open House London.

© Liz Price