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Underground (Miscellaneous: Tunnels, Roads, Bunkers Etc.)

Parsons Street in Banbury was first recorded as Gropecunt Lane in 1333, and may have been an important thoroughfare, but by 1410 its name had been changed to Parsons Lane

Do locals still refer to it by its former epithetical name? Is the trade still plied there?

And just noticed your comment about Cuttle Brook - could be that the Pump Pound (also in Market Place) was a water pump that tapped into the now-underground brook?

Edit : Looks like your Cuttle Brook fed into a cucking-pool!

Also mentioned here : https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol10/pp18-28
I don't think its historical name is terribly well known to the masses tbh. In a local history book i there was an undated medieval map calling the road personnes street. Maybe it was never officially known by its common name?

these days the area fancies itself as the 'nice' part of the town centre, though theres a few pubs, so who knows, after a few gin-cocktails up against the pasty shop? each to their own...
 
Popular porn star, Jenni Lee, found living in the famous Las Vegas underground city. (NSFW, lots of semi-nekkid pics, hey it's the Star what do you expect?)

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/world-famous-porn-star-found-18965788

For 75 years the French Senate - the upper house of parliament based in the historic Luxembourg Palace - has been keeping an embarrassing secret.
Hidden in the basement, its whereabouts privy to just a handful of initiates, lies a bust of Adolf Hitler.
This week the bust's existence was revealed thanks to an investigation by Le Monde newspaper. It also found a 3m x 2m (10ft x 6.5ft) Nazi flag, and various other documents and items from the Occupation.


https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49592034
 
Very sad. She's on some kind of drugs. Crystal meth?
 
This is fascinating. Apparently the Welsh town of Wrexham has mysterious underground tunnels, and someone called Wayne says he's investigated and mapped them.

The page here is the North Wales Live website, a respectable news source. Not a crank site.
There are several explanatory maps and lots of tasty links to explore. Almost like being there!

Man who says he investigated Wrexham's underground tunnels draws map of where hidden network lies

A man who investigated Wrexham's mysterious underground tunnels has drawn up a map of where he understands the hidden network runs.

Wayne, 33, who did not want to reveal his full name, carried out his own investigation work under the town's streets around a decade ago after hearing of their alleged existence.

Despite having "turned Wrexham library upside down" looking for official documents and evidence, he came to a dead end.

Not giving up, and with a growing curiosity, he sought to find his own by speaking to locals and getting permission from a number of the town's shops and pubs to explore their basements himself.

What he claims to have discovered was a "jungle" of arched tunnels beneath the town.
etc
 
A friend of mine was a surveyor for one of the NW Boroughs and one of his jobs
was to walk the underground tunnels often with streams or rivers running through
them to inspect them for cracks faults and so on, he would go down at one place
and emerge often miles away.
Another friend was a water man for one of the mills in Bury, he could wander all
over the town underground, I had a few walks down there but how I coveted that
job.
 
Underground fuel depot from WW2 in Scotland.

Exploring The Tunnel: Scotland's secret WW2 fuel depot
By Mary McCoolBBC Scotland news
  • 23 September 2019
Beneath the hills of the Scottish Highlands lies one of the largest underground structures ever built by man.
Across Easter Ross it is known simply as The Tunnel.
Built between 1938 and 1941 for use during World War Two, the Inchindown oil storage facility is comprised of six monstrous tanks - 778ft (237m) long, 30ft (9m) wide and 44ft (13m) high.
The now-empty tanks are accessible by two tunnels - providing you can stomach the stench of oil vapour while navigating your way through complete darkness.
etc

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-49728273
 
Isn't that were some guy goes to play a instrument as the acoustics are so pure?
 
A friend of mine was a surveyor for one of the NW Boroughs and one of his jobs
was to walk the underground tunnels often with streams or rivers running through
them to inspect them for cracks faults and so on, he would go down at one place
and emerge often miles away.

Heh, this reminds me of the Robert Harris novel Pompeii wherein a character's intimate acquaintance with the underground irrigation system comes in VERY handy when the volcano goes off.
 
This is fascinating. Apparently the Welsh town of Wrexham has mysterious underground tunnels, and someone called Wayne says he's investigated and mapped them.

The page here is the North Wales Live website, a respectable news source. Not a crank site.
There are several explanatory maps and lots of tasty links to explore. Almost like being there!

Man who says he investigated Wrexham's underground tunnels draws map of where hidden network lies
There are allegedly underground tunnels in Caernarfon as well. I haven't seen them, but a deceased friend of mine who used to work on the local newspaper said she had been down some of them. This is apart from the stream that runs under the town in a tunnel and the old railway tunnel now converted to road use.
 
There are allegedly underground tunnels in Caernarfon as well. I haven't seen them, but a deceased friend of mine who used to work on the local newspaper said she had been down some of them. This is apart from the stream that runs under the town in a tunnel and the old railway tunnel now converted to road use.

An old railway line along there from Bangor was converted into a brilliant cycle path, wonder if we used the former railway tunnel? I'll investigate.

Caernarfon is generally fantastic. I recommend it to anyone who likes castles, history, beer, trains, cycling, hiking, restaurants, the seas, landscapes, boats, everything Wales does best.

Used to visit with the family as a child. Hadn't been back for years since, went for a bike ride with Techy, was not disappointed.
 
The story of the girl who got lost and died in the Odessa catacombs did the rounds on Quora earlier today.
The catacombs are an astonishing five times more extensive than the far more famous Parisian catacombs and have accumulated their own legends of partying youngsters, extreme thrill-seekers, occultists etc.
A good analysis of the allegedly dead girl "Masha" here:

https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/7bd7ab/dying-in-ukraines-endless-labyrinth-of-catacombs-341

Video here of the official guided tour of the Odessa catacombs.
You get to visit around 2km out of the estimated 2,500km of tunnels. The tour focuses primarily on the Soviet-era barricaded areas. One Fortean element though was the area where soldiers could not remain for longer than one hour, because they started to hallucinate.

 
Churchill's Secret Army Bunker found in Scottish Borders

Tree felling work uncovers WW2 underground bunker near Moffat
  • 36 minutes ago
  • A secret World War Two bunker has been unearthed during tree felling work in the Scottish Borders.
    Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) recently discovered the structure in Craigielands Forest near Moffat.
    It is thought the bunker was used as a base for an Auxiliary Unit - sometimes known as Churchill's "secret army".
etc

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-51800809
 
Man doing DIY discovers 120-year-old tunnel underneath his home

A man who drilled a hole in his wall was stunned to find a secret 120-year-old tunnel underneath his house.
Jake Brown was doing some work at his newly bought home when he realised that one wall had different textures.
He inspected further and made an opening big enough to get his head through to take another look.
To his shock, Jake discovered there was a huge area underneath his home in Plymouth, Devon, so he opened it up to investigate.
Inside the tunnel he discovered items including paint cans and an old newspaper that proved the tunnel had been blocked up for more than 50 years.
And he found evidence on bottles that the tunnel itself was from the early 1900s.

Jake said: "I recently moved into a Georgian property in Emma Place.
“While having a lazy coffee standing outside the basement front door of the property I noticed a patch in the wall of a texture different to the rest.
“I also noted that the patch was the same distance from the coal cellar already exposed, currently used for storage.

(c)WOL '20
 
Doing a quick overlay of that 1800s map and current map, it appears the town hall is built on the site of an old school and a "Pump Pound". Only unlikely thing I can think of is that the Pump Pound was connected to a navigable water source like an underground river/stream/tunnel linked to the Cherwell. But as you observed, it's outside the city walls - rather useless as an ammo supply route if the castle's under siege (especially as it's next to a barbican - the entrances are going to be under constant watch.)

It could be the commenter is thinking of the WW2 air raid shelter under the Town Hall. It apparently had a capacity of 250.

https://www.banburyguardian.co.uk/lifestyle/nostalgia/war-children-had-to-hide-under-pews-1-598249

Have you tried asking at the town hall itself, or the local library? Maybe the shelters still exist, perhaps converted into storerooms. (Libraries often have old maps and clippings not online and librarians know everything)


EqdqROx.jpg



When I lived in Npton I knew a Telecom engineer who had done some cabling work in the town center, he said there were numerous tunnels under the market place and the church and on more than one level. Some of the access doors were locked and some he explored went towards Delapre Abbey.
 
I really want this...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ROC-Nucl...887176?hash=item3427414088:g:9msAAOSwKsRejKc7
ROC Nuclear Bunker Monitoring Post Unique Freehold Land Property Holiday Home

£29,995.00

Relisted due to a timewaster - Anyone hitting 'Buy it Now' will be required to pay a non returnable £1000 deposit via Paypal to secure the deal. If this is not done I will relist the item and block the buyer.

My ROC Bunker has to be sold, ironically because of the pandemic that has just hit us - I now need the money.
I bought this as a project to make into a survivalist holiday home, at the time there was three of us, we now have another addition and so I feel that it is no longer suitable.
The bunker has its own access road (wide enough for a small lorry) made from crushed concrete and parking 'on site'
The hatch is intact and secure as are the vent grills
I have GSM Cellular cameras (remote monitoring) on site along with solar power, 12V & 240v lighting, 240V generator hook up & power
Internally I have a bunkbed that sleeps 3 and converts into a sofa, plus kitchen area, fold down dining table & chairs
The toilet area has a chemical toilet.
The sump pump has been rebuilt and is fully functional
The bunker is register with land registry as "land" and as such there is no council tax
The photos were taken last year, I will update when I get chance after lockdown
Good future development potential
Located near Upwell in Norfolk - No Viewings or trespass without appointment
Plot Size 20 x 26 meters approx + access rd (shown in yellow on aerial shots)
The bunker measures 4.75m x 2.25m x 2.25m High internally approx.
Mains services are located nearby and could be connected if you intend to do so, but it is currently 'off grid'
All subject to contract

Due to a lot of interest I will be holding a viewing day after the present virus situation has eased.

Background
There are just over 1,000 of these iconic underground bunkers left, and it is genuinely a rare thing nowadays for them to come up for sale.
Since the inception of ROC in 1925 as an integral part of the UK air defence system, the primary role of the Royal Observer Corps (ROC) was the recognition and identification of hostile aircraft. With the start of the cold war and the increasing threat of nuclear attack in the 1950’s, the ROC was given the added responsibility of reporting nuclear bursts and monitoring fall-out which necessitated the construction of 1563 underground monitoring posts throughout Great Britain & Northern Ireland. In 1991 it was decided by the Home Office & MOD that the ROC would cease active training and the remaining underground posts were closed at the end of September that year. Most of the posts closed in 1968 reverted back to the original landowners while those closed in 1992 were put out to public tender.
roversync
 
Not a bad price! However... there is rather too much condensation on the walls.
 
More pics please. If it is or isn't it's still quite sobering to think that people had to build shelters to protect themselves from being bombed.

Hopefully we’ll have another go at it tomorrow. We have still got bit of the Anderson shelter in our garden but quite a lot of people upgraded. There have been many reports of people finding underground shelters in my area. We are pretty close to London and had a far bit of manufacturing.

Even if we weren’t targeted we might get them dumping the bombs on the way home. It was only a couple of years ago I learnt that a house in the next street had been lost but it had been rebuilt.
 
Hopefully we’ll have another go at it tomorrow. We have still got bit of the Anderson shelter in our garden but quite a lot of people upgraded. There have been many reports of people finding underground shelters in my area. We are pretty close to London and had a far bit of manufacturing.

Even if we weren’t targeted we might get them dumping the bombs on the way home. It was only a couple of years ago I learnt that a house in the next street had been lost but it had been rebuilt.

Absolutely spot on. Even if it isn't its just part of the amazing mystery of living in a place that has been occupied by other people.
 
Absolutely spot on. Even if it isn't its just part of the amazing mystery of living in a place that has been occupied by other people.

I do like houses with history. Our house is 1920s so no censuses so far and I think it was built after the 1921 one too. But I have found out who lived here in 1939 when they did the register. However one of them died in Scotland the next year (I did some metaphorical digging as well as real digging on Ancestry) so there could well be completely different people here by then.

There are various of puzzling things to our house. It seems there was some kind of forced air heating system of something, not sure how on earth that worked. When we took down our shed there was a bit of trolley bus under it, luckily it had the vehicles number on it so we knew exactly which one it had come from (the trolley bus had been bombed and rebuilt). So I wonder if it meant something to them.
 

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I do like houses with history. Our house is 1920s so no censuses so far and I think it was built after the 1921 one too. But I have found out who lived here in 1939 when they did the register. However one of them died in Scotland the next year (I did some metaphorical digging as well as real digging on Ancestry) so there could well be completely different people here by then.

There are various of puzzling things to our house. It seems there was some kind of forced air heating system of something, not sure how on earth that worked. When we took down our shed there was a bit of trolley bus under it, luckily it had the vehicles number on it so we knew exactly which one it had come from (the trolley bus had been bombed and rebuilt). So I wonder if it meant something to them.

This is the funny hearing vent thing. Ignore the cable for the Sky in front of it.

41660DF9-9DD0-4389-9407-C8C124FABDBB.jpeg
 
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Doesn't look big enough for a heating vent it maybe just a to prevent condensation.
 
Doesn't look big enough for a heating vent it maybe just a to prevent condensation.

It’s halfway up the wall if that’s any indication what it is. There was a large stand out the back which we assumed was for oil or something.
 
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