Group seeking truth over secret tunnels under city
Residents seek to prove or dispel rumours
The founders of a social media group are appealing to residents for help in investigating a rumoured network of tunnels under the city.
The Chichester Tunnels beganasaFacebookgroupaimed at opening up discussion about the rumoured tunnels but now two of the group’s founders are hoping to take the investgation a step further.
Sam Fraser, 28, said: “I have worked in a lot of bars and restaurants in Chichester and have always heard stories from people about tunnels leading to the cathedral. Growing up in Chichester you always hear stories. They might be true, they might not be true. I am not an archaeologist and I am not an historian, I am just interested in what this group might find.”
Liam Mandeville, of Charles Avenue, has been leading the charge in investigating the tunnels and said he hopes to prove or disprove the tunnels ‘once and for all’.
“We want to find out if they are fact or fable and if they do exist, what were they for?”
The group is now seeking funding for a ground penetrating radar to find the tunnels and is callingforanyonewithstoriesor theirownprooftocomeforward and take part in the ‘community investigation’. The group is clear it is not referring to the Lavant culverts but rather a network of passage tunnels. Find out more by visiting the Chichester Tunnels Facebook page.
Work to bring the flowers, shrubs and trees of key regions of the Silk Route to Woolbeding Gardens is underway.
The National Trust is supporting The Woolbeding Charity to develop and open to the public a bespoke new glasshouse and gardens, which will offer visitors a chance to learn about the plants brought to Europe along the historic route.
Designed by Heatherwick Studio, this striking ten-sided ‘kinetic’ glasshouse is being sensitively set in a specially landscaped series of garden zones following the route from Asia to Europe.