Sunday 10 August 2008

Tunnels under Silverton.

One of the enduring myths about the village is that there \are a number of secret passages under the village that lead to the church. One such was supposed to run from the former Prispen House site and the other was supposed to run from the Gallery building off the square, I remember hearing these stories when young and I have heard them told on occasions since.

The Prispen tunnel story is probably the most bizarre given that any tunnel that ran from the site of the former rectory to the church would have had to pass through a bog. I suspect that the origins of this story lie in the fact that there were, and possibly still are, large cellars under the Prispen house site from the time when the now destroyed house was a rectory and the existence of the cellars were certainly known to those who worked there.

The Gallery tunnel is certainly more plausible but as far as I know, there is no evidence that one ever existed, or indeed why it should have existed. I suspect that this story may have emerged because of the existence of wells in the building.

All in all, such stories add character to the village and most old communities can boast stories of this type. Sadly, as with many things reality is somewhat more mundane.

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