Lower Robert Street: London’s Haunted Underground Street
Lower Robert Street is often described as London’s oldest underground street, purpose-built around the 1770s beneath Adelphi terrace.
Adelphi Terrace is a historic row of Georgian townhouses built in the late 18th century by the Adelphi brothers along the north bank of the River Thames.
What made the terrace especially unique is that it was built on a reclaimed stretch of the river’s foreshore, supported by an extensive network of vaulted chambers beneath.
These vaulted spaces, made of brick and stone, were strong foundations for the elegant houses above while also providing storage areas, wine cellars, and discreet service passages.
The Adelphi’s golden age was relatively brief.
In the late 1860s, London undertook a huge engineering project to improve sanitation, reclaiming large parts of the Thames foreshore.
This led to the construction of the Victoria Embankment, a wide new riverside road that also concealed the city’s new sewers and carried the District and Circle railway lines.
While a triumph of Victorian engineering, the project dramatically altered the character of the Adelphi.
The once prestigious vaults and roadways that had opened directly onto the river were now cut off, leaving them hidden behind the new embankment.
This loss of access and visibility quickly led to their decline, and the warren-like underground passages became notorious as a refuge for London’s destitute, earning a reputation for squalor and crime.
This creepy tunnel is now closed between midnight and 7am, and the street is so little known it’s only really frequented by cabbies.
To get there, head along the Strand from Charing Cross, then turn right into the narrow passageway known as George Court.
The cross John Adams Street, continue down York Buildings, and on your left you’ll find a downward-sloping entrance leading into a shadowy, tunnel-like passage.
Like many of London’s darker corners, the area soon attracted ghost stories.
People have allegedly claimed to hear unsettling sounds such as screams, gasps, and even a “steady, rhythmic tapping.”
The most famous tale is that of ‘Poor Jenny’, said to have been a prostitute who lived in the vaults of Lower Robert Street.
According to legend, she was murdered by a client, strangled on a filthy bed of rags, and her tormented screams are still said to echo through the tunnels.
Some accounts even describe the sound of rhythmic tapping, interpreted as Jenny’s final desperate kicks as she struggled against her attacker.
Whether fact or fiction, such stories have become part of the vaults’ long lasting mystique.
Perhaps it’s just as well that Lower Robert Street is now reportedly closed to the public at night.
However, the secret route is sometimes used by cab drivers in the daytime, looking for a shortcut, the locals nickname is ‘the bat cave.’
Reacting to the post on Facebook, someone commented: “As an ex London cabby the look on customers faces when you went down there!”
Another person added: “Ha, I used to use this when I was a cycle courier back in the day, always felt odd cycling through it.”
Most Londoners still walk above, unaware of this passage beneath them - would you pass through this road?
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