Among the most endearing of modern myths are those surrounding the existence of mysterious tunnels.
Geoff Ambridge has been trying to get to the bottom of one particular labyrinth in Eastbourne
If tunnels exist in the vicinity of the Lamb Inn in Eastbourne, how old are they and what was their purpose? The alleged passages are said to be west of the junction of Ocklynge Road and High Street, close to the centre of the old town. A neighbour mentioned that, around 1935, a tunnel was revealed following road subsidence, as it passed beneath Ocklynge Road. He and his friends ventured inside and found it to be about 40 yards long, blocked at both ends. It appeared to have once connected the Inn to an old house called The Lawn built around 1698 for Thomas Roots. In December 1996 I wrote to the Eastbourne Herald asking if anyone could corroborate the story. One lady recalled exploring the arched brickwork trail. The tunnel was level, straight and had a dry floor.’ This description did not match that given by my original informant who described it as being ‘about 5 ft. in diameter, not quite circular.’ A Gentlemen claimed that he had entered this tunnel in 1932 when he discovered that it led from The Lawn to the inn. He added. ‘If I remember correctly. the tunnel started from a barn near the house’
The most interesting report details a passageway which led from the medieval undercroft beneath the Lamb where, in the 1960s, the author says he saw the tunnel entrance and took a photograph of it (as shown). This entrance would only have been accessible by ladder ‘being some 6ft down, beyond a wall.’ At The Old Parsonage, an ancient building which adjoins St Mary’s church he saw what he understood to be the other end of this tunnel ‘at the bottom of the first flight of stairs, just inside the entrance... where it joins the Church - turn sharp right as you go through the door. In the 1960s, the tunnel entrance was open and could quite easily be viewed but s now blocked by concrete although its outline in the stonework can still be traced,’ he claims.
Parchment map
Some intriguing evidence was supplied by another lady who claimed that during the Great War her late father and friends played in the then empty Old Parsonage building. While climbing one of its chimneys they discovered in a recess an alleged parchment map which showed the layout of tunnels to various nearby buildings, i.e. a house in Borough Lane; The Vicarage; The Old Parsonage to the Lamb Inn. Curiously, however, she made no mention of having been told about the tunnel to The Lawn. Apparently her father replaced the map where he found it. One wonders whether it is still there. They walked the length of the Old Parsonage tunnel until it reached a locked, wooden door at the Lamb Inn cellar.
Sussex Past & Present - August 1997 |
