"Kat":
According to our duty manager... while the excavating was
taking place local people complained about the noise and
got the work stopped by finding some ancient law forbidding any
tunnelling under St Paul's Cathedral.

Yes, well, that sounds like someone telling a story that way because
it sounds good. As I just pointed out elsewhere in the thread, it
was actually the cathedral authorities themselves who objected, and
under a 1935 law.

Tom Anderson:
Hang on - was this *during* the war? "Bomb shelter? No thanks,
too noisy! We'll just sit here with these nice quiet BOMBS
FALLING ON OUR HEADS."?!?!

It seems entirely possible to me that when the construction began,
there was no announcement of what it was for. It seems to have been
the way of things at the time that if something was in any way war-
related, then you didn't make it public until either the public had
a clear need to know, or else the enemy clearly already knew about
it. (When the V-2 rocket attacks on London began, nothing was said
for 3 months about the explosions being caused by enemy missiles.
See my old posting http://groups-beta.google.com/group/uk.transport.london/msg/d4edd85f5a82dae4?dmode=source&hl=en.)

Neill Wormwood:
As a matter of interest, was there any work done at Bethnal Green or
Oval? As I recall there might have been some done at Oval, but it was
abandoned due to water ingress.

Right.

As to Bethnal Green, at the outbreak of war the Central Line still
ended at Liverpool Street. But construction was well advanced on the
eastern extension, and the *incomplete station* at Bethnal Green was
used as a shelter, as were a number of other incomplete or abandoned
stations throughout the system.

In 1943 the stairs leading to this shelter were the site of a crowd
crush that is the all-time worst disaster on any site that is now or
ever has been part of the London Underground system -- 173 people were
killed, many of them children. "Rails Through the Clay" says that
this accident was hushed up at the time; in fact it was reported on
in considerable detail, *but with no mention of where in London it
had happened*. (On request I will email a reasonable number of copies
of my transcription of the Times's articles; for copyright reasons
it would be inappropriate to post them.)
--
Mark Brader "A moment's thought would have shown him,
Toronto but a moment is a long time and thought
is a painful process." -- A. E. Housman

My text in this article is in the public domain.