Cavers Offer to Investigate Suspected Tunnels
Old stone buildings on Cirencester’s Castle Street. Photo by Chris Jefferies
The Gloucester Speleological Society has offered to determine once and for all if an alleged network of tunnels under the city of Cirencester, England exist.
The Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard reports that businesses in the town’s Market Place believe that bricked up entrances in their cellars connect to the tunnels which lead to the church and a former abbey.
They speculate that the hidden tunnels were created by monks in the 16th century to escape danger during the Protestant Reformation of England.
One elderly resident, May Bunt, even attests to entering the tunnels when she was a child in 1940.
Now the Gloucester Speleological Society has offered to find out for sure, providing the businesses allow them access.
If they want us to investigate tunnels we would be more than happy to survey entrances and make a recording. Hundreds of years ago people did create tunnels and over the years things never change. What is below ground generally doesn’t change—it is what is on the surface that changes. Jonathan Maisey, Gloucester Speleological Society member
They would begin their exploration as gently as possible, by only removing a single brick from the walled up “entrance” to see what lies beyond. Further exploration would only continue if a tunnel was evident.
Cirencester is located in east Gloucestershire, 93 miles (150 km) west northwest of London.
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