In 1939 arguably one of history's greatest ever archaeological discoveries
was being made at Sutton Hoo, in Suffolk, England.
An Anglo-Saxon ship burial – the likes of which had never been seen
was being excavated in the backyard of one Mrs Edith Pretty.
Between June and August of that year
archaeologists uncovered the remains of an 89-foot-long ship
as well as some of the finest, and most unique examples of Anglo-Saxon craftsmanship ever discovered.
These finds took the world by storm.
The press dubbed Sutton Hoo 'Britain's Tutankhamun'
and on the 23rd of August
in acknowledgement of their significance
Mrs Pretty announced that she had given all of the finds
to the British Museum.
There they could be seen in their entirety
by anyone
free of charge.
Except for the fact that just a few hours later
the British Museum started preparing those objects
to put them back underground.
92 feet underground to be precise
here at Aldwych Station.
The reason?
The British Museum had just received a message from Whitehall.
War with Germany was imminent.
Aerial attacks were expected on London within days, weeks at best
and it was time for the BM
as well as every other major museum, library, and gallery in the UK
to start evacuating their most important objects to safer locations.
Plans for this had drawn up as early as 1933.
The Government had given each institution a repository
a safe house in which to store their objects.
Most of these were manor houses
located in the English countryside
isolated and of little military significance.
The BM was given a couple of these as well
but they were also given access to Aldwych Station.
First opened in 1907, there were grand plans for Aldwych.
It was originally going to act as a major station for a new underground route
that would connect the north bank of the Thames with south London.
These plans fell through just before the station was opened
but not before it had been kitted out with additional lift shafts, walkways and stairways
as well as a spare platform and tube tunnel.
And all these additional walkways and tunnels meant that
large volumes of crates filled with incredibly fragile objects could be moved through here
swiftly but safely.
Through these tunnels they would eventually be taken to this platform.
And from here the objects were carefully placed into that tunnel.
Deep underground
ten times deeper than the Sutton Hoo treasures had been excavated from just 2 months prior
it was well beyond the range of an aerial attack on London.
It seems perfect right?
But there was just one problem:
moisture.
The relative humidity at Aldwych Station
or any underground station for that matter at this time
fluctuated massively.
Readings done by the British Museum during war show that this station was anywhere between 38 and 89% relative humidity
dependent on the weather.
Now to put that into practical terms for you
38% is roughly a day in December in Las Vegas
and 89% is the equivalent of storing your objects in the Amazon rainforest during rainy season.
These high relative humidity levels entirely ruled out storing anything made of organic materials.
So, no textiles, no coffins, no mummies and no manuscripts could be placed in the tube tunnel.
And so more robust, non-organic objects were stored here instead.
Crates filled with Roman vases, Greek and Assyrian sculpture, engraved gems
and metallic objects like the Sutton Hoo finds.
But while more resistant to large fluctuations in humidity
these objects weren’t immune to the conditions.
In high humidity metallic objects will, unsurprisingly, develop corrosion
and sculpture can develop mould.
But much more worryingly
objects that contain any kind of soluble salt within them
if exposed to huge fluctuations in relative humidity can form breakages.
When humidity levels are high, soluble salts dissolve.
When they're low they re-solidify
and this kind of movement runs the risk of forming cracks and breakages
in the otherwise very solid objects.
The Museum did what they could to combat these conditions.
To stop moisture seeping into the tunnel from above
the tunnel was treated with lead-based paint
which is why I can’t go in there today.
Similarly, the storage crates used were chemically treated to make them as water resistant as possible.
Within a few weeks, the tunnel was sealed up
and a 24-hour guard was posted just outside it, by this door
to prevent looting and to monitor humidity levels throughout the station.
And then…
well not much happened down here because the system worked surprisingly well.
There were issues to be sure.
When Aldwych started to be used as an air raid shelter
the humidity levels rose.
They rose even further when water started to seep into the station thanks to the bombing above.
But these were all minor issues that could be combated
by running electrical fans through the tunnel for 1 hour every day.
The real problems were above ground.
The range of aerial attacks on the UK was much wider than initially expected
and it soon became clear that some of the country houses chosen to protect objects
were less safe than originally thought.
The British Museum spent most of the earlier years of World War 2
moving objects from one repository to another
desperately searching for the perfect wartime storage solution.
Eventually they realised that they only safe kind of storage was underground
and using Aldwych as a blueprint
they developed larger
more sophisticated underground storage
in an unused quarry just outside Bath.
In 1945, as World War 2 came to a close
the objects in Aldwych tunnel started to be taken back to the Museum.
Many were returned as early as September, but some
including the Parthenon sculptures
remained down there until 1948.
The British Museum had suffered a number of devastating direct hits during the Blitz
losing many of its roofs and floors
and as a result safe storage within the Museum
was at a premium
and so they were safer down here
than they were in the now very leaky Museum building.
But eventually these holes in the BM were patched up
and the collection started going back on display.
Sadly by this point, Mrs Pretty had passed away.
But I’m sure she’d be happy to know that for the last 60 years or so
the amazing objects found in her backyard
in the final months before World War 2
have been displayed in their entirety
for anyone to see, free of charge.
Just as she intended
and thanks in no small part to Aldwych Station.
As you can imagine we've skipped over quite a few details involved
in the British Museum's World War 2 story.
So if you'd like to find out more about those
I present a podcast for the British Museum imaginatively titled
'The British Museum Podcast'
and the first 2 episodes of that podcast are called
'The Suicide Exhibition' part 1 and 2
and they go into immense detail about what the Museum did just prior to
and entirely throughout World War 2.
If you'd like to find out more about this, there are links in the description below.
And thank you once again to TfL for letting us come to the amazing Aldwych Station.
Now don't mind me
I have a train to catch.
I can't believe you've got me to do that.
Yep I did it.
Ha ha ha.