Local historian Brian Giggins: There are some tunnels. I’m pretty certain there is one from Sessions House to the County Prison and the County Council offices and part of the museum. It was used for prisoners in the 19th century. “There is one underneath Derngate going under Swan Street leading from one side to the other. There used to be a road which divided the Royal Theatre and you had the Royal Theatre on one side and workshops on the other side, they constructed a tunnel underneath. “There is also a tunnel which used to take electric cables some way down Bridge Street.” He added that there are also a series of inter-linking cellars in the area of Wood Hill and the Market Square, where an underground area was used as a World War Two air raid shelter. He continued: “People love to believe in tunnels, there are people who long to believe in tunnels, no matter whether they are sure or not. “It is often a case of ‘my grandad said he walked all the way through the town via tunnels,’ but when you go underneath you haven’t got a clue where you are.” But John Kightley, a founding trustee of the restoration trust set up for Northampton’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, believes more investigation could reveal some interesting detail about the tunnels beneath the town. He said: “Around 20 years ago the road collapsed in Church Lane, near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and my fellow church warden rang me to ‘come and look at this’. “I looked down and there was quite clearly a bricked tunnel. I thought I should get to the bottom of this but it panicked the council and they came to fill it in.” He continued; “Some years later my son Peter, who was a geophysicist in training at Birmingham University, brought in some ground radar scanning equipment. “He scanned the inside of the Crusader Round (at the church) and scanned the church yard. “When he scanned the centre of the round the equipment went bezerk.” Examining the results of the scan, John believes there appeared to be a tunnel going across the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. He said: “History books tell us that wherever a church is built just outside town walls, there is usually a tunnel to the outside of the walls.” One theory, John said, is that Thomas Becket used Northampton’s tunnels while fleeing for his life. Whatever the truth of the scale of the tunnels, John believes they need more investigation. He said: “There are lots of people around who think the same as I do. Should they be exposed for tourism? Absolutely, yes. It is part of our heritage and we shouldn’t hide our heritage.” ist photo is under Groove nightclub at top ogf Gold Street Peter Harris have you been down there
Posted on: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 06:14:26 +0000
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