Drama in Holly Place
On Wednesday the 11th I arrived at the church and it seemed like any other day. Shortly afterwards a parishioner came into the office and asked what all the vehicles were doing up Holly Walk. I went out to investigate and discovered there was a burst water pipe, that had been running since 4.30 am and they were channelling water into the ABG! I pointed out this wasn’t a good idea because the ground below is full of voids and it could cause the paths and the graves to subside! So instead they ran the water down the road.
Over the course of the morning more and more vehicles arrived till there were 6 fire engines plus vehicles from Thames Water, UK Power Networks, British Gas, Camden and the police. Just as well there was no gatepost – or it might have been knocked over!
More problematic than the burst pipe was the gas leak and by 11.00 am you could clearly smell it. The people living in Prospect Place were all evacuated and class 6 at the school, whose classroom is nearest to the ABG were moved. Apparently the plastic gas pipe is just above the water pipe and the force of the water and the stones it was throwing up caused the gas pipe to leak.
The fire services set up a command post in Frognal Gardens and updated Graham, myself, and surrounding properties every 30 to 60 minutes on what was happening. We did suggest they might like to hold meetings in the Parish Rooms which was warmer and drier but they are obviously used to working in the cold and the rain and they declined! So we met outside!
We were however able to offer a constant flow of tea and coffee and biscuits I bought from Tesco and importantly a loo. A portaloo has turned up today but on Wednesday we were the loo stop. I opened the Crypt Room but no one seemed to find their way down there, they just queued in church! Everyone was very grateful for the HPC support. By 2.00 pm the gas leak was isolated, the danger of an explosion was over and the vehicles started to leave. Phew!
We had a walk around today. A number of graves and paths in the ABG have subsided so until we can do a proper inspection, the ABG is closed.
A sink hole has developed behind the houses in Prospect Place and the firemen said that there was already signs of cracks and subsidence and doors couldn’t be opened or closed because of this.
The photos show the ‘delayed loo’, the sink hole behind the houses and one of the ABG collapsed graves.
As someone said with all this water flowing underground through the graveyard ‘who knows where the bodies are now’!
