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Tunnels under Sheffield

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Doh ....Shame about tunnels, If there any it is unlikely we will be able to go down.

 

 

There is some sort of old war bunker in Beauchief woods, anybody know anything about this?

 

The mystery goes on............

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You need to apply to the military for access to the tunnels.

 

Moon Maiden

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Originally posted by "Moon Maiden"

 

You need to apply to the military for access to the tunnels.

 

Moon Maiden

 

Which tunnels are you talking about?

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any of em. They aparently ALL belong to the military now.

 

Moon Maiden

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I went into the pub "The Ship" in Shalesmoor last night (opposite the Nags Head) for the first time last night. It is a very pleasant pub and quite ornate to look at from the outside.

 

Anyway, as you walk in on the right hand side by the entrance is a plaque dedicated to 2 seamen who died in the 'secret tunnels' beneath the pub which led down to the river at the time of the Sheffield Flood.

 

What they were doing, or why the tunnels were 'secret' I don't know.

 

Oh yeah - and the plaque said something about a ghost too!

 

Nomme

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Originally posted by "nommedenet"

 

I went into the pub "The Ship" in Shalesmoor last night (opposite the Nags Head) for the first time last night. It is a very pleasant pub and quite ornate to look at from the outside.

 

Anyway, as you walk in on the right hand side by the entrance is a plaque dedicated to 2 seamen who died in the 'secret tunnels' beneath the pub which led down to the river at the time of the Sheffield Flood.

 

What they were doing, or why the tunnels were 'secret' I don't know.

 

Oh yeah - and the plaque said something about a ghost too!

 

Nomme

Apparently he was a seaman who was trapped in one of the many tunnels that used to run under the pub, and which were flooded in 1864 when the Dale Dyke Dam burst

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The Carbrook Hall pub landlord used to talk of tunnels below the pub. Unfortunately I can`t remember any details.

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Originally posted by Moon Maiden

Hi,

 

Monk Bretton Priory in Barnsley is said to have tunnels that link up with another church in Wakefield :shock: A quick escape route for the monk should they be attacked.

 

 

Moon Maiden

 

Hi :)

 

I know a guy in Stairfoot just down the road from Monk Bretton that is currently writing a book collecting Barnsley/Wakefield stories and examining them for accuracy. (Initially started as an investigation of Robin Hood legends).

 

Apparently there were supposed to have been tunnels leading all over from Monk Bretton, including to Doncaster, Sheffield Cathedral etc. The link to the Wakefield church (the big one in the City Centre) is the most common story though highly unlikely as Monk Bretton was Catholic and the Wakefield Church Anglican. My friend says that it is far more likely that the tunnel(s) led a 'safe' distance from the priory, perhaps to nearby farm buildings owned by the monks, and would have been used as a hidey-hole/escape route should the priory have come under attack from Reformers.

 

Tunnels were more common AFTER the dissolution of the monasteries and used extensively by catholic priests during the civil war, catholic clergy often being held trial for heresy if they were caught by Cromwells men.

 

Sometimes (certainly at one place in Nantwich, Cheshire) tunnels and hidden vaults under churches were where remnants of earlier pagan worship were 'kept' by the Church... crude carved stones, hidden from the local populace to prevent pagan worship, yet not destroyed for fear of incurring the wrath of pagan gods/spirits. Some of the Nantwich stones are now in Crewe and others in the basement of the Grosvenor Museum, Chester. The ones I have seen seem to be romano-celtic in origin although I have seen a stone recovered from a Chapel near Sandiway, Delamere, and that appears to be pre-roman. It is about 7' in height and features a humanoid figure with froglike characteristics which figures as the area was at one time marshland.

 

Other 'tunnels', for instance, beneath Inns were sometimes extended cellars with hidden storage rooms, where perhaps 'poached' game was kept, particularly things like Swans, Deer etc which could get you the death sentence, but at the same time offered tremendous potential for profit.

 

Many Inns also brewed on the premises or had tunnels leading to an nearby outbuilding used as a 'mashing house'. Barrels might conceivably have been transported underground to the Inn as a means of minimising risk of theft as certain periods of history were almost as lawless as today (:D ). Beer and wines were certainly stored underground, as were all foodstuffs.

 

The best tunnel I have actually seen is at Hinton Old Hall on the Cheshire/Shropshire border, which leads to another nearby old manor house (Currently a clubhouse for a golf club). Apparently the tunnel was built so that the neighbouring landowners could visit each other and play cards etc without getting exposed to wind and rain. There is a story which relates that during heavy rains once the tunnel became flooded and a somewhat inebriated 'Lord of the Manor' was resting during his subterranean walk home and drowned.

 

AS for current military use of tunnels etc. Unless they were built or 'occupied' by the WD/MOD it is unlikely that the Military have any jurisdiction over tunnels. I was in the Army myself and have been in one place in Hampshire where there was several levels of underground storage. These contain nothing more sinister than military financial records, masses and masses of them, receipts, orders, ledgers etc dating back as far as Victorian days.

 

Behind the public face of the army there is a secret army of book-keepers and military accountants obsessively maintaining records and balancing the books.

 

If anyone comes up with concrete PROOF of the Sheffield tunnels rather than anecdotal evidence them please post here.

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There's a huge network of amazing brick tunnels under Liverpool - they are known as The Williamson Tunnels as they were created by Joseph Williamson in the early 1800s, though his reasons for building them aren't really known.

 

A small section is open to the public with a visitor centre, and they have a fine website here:

 

http://www.williamsontunnels.com/index.htm

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don't give up yet my fellow 'moles'

Tunnel Vision is back! I know of tunnels connecting Ecclesfield Church to Whitley Hall. At least half a mile long.No mess!

Talkin to vicar tommorow.

Gotta go. Need to go buy a canary!!

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Thx Dom + Ecclesfield Church has a ghost of a monk?

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Originally posted by The Cycleracer

I believe there is a tunnel from The Sheffield castle and goes under the Pitsmoor estate linking the old castle that used to stand in the area were Pye Bank School and the Pitsmoor estate is now.

 

Castle at Pitsmoor....can you remember where you read that ?

 

Pitsmoor got it's name because it was moorland or waste with small scale opencast or drift workings - bound to be lots of tunnels dug into the side of the hill.

 

GB

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