Tales of tunnels underneath Oxfordshire village prove to be true

{'text': '3 hours ago'}

{'text': 'Ethan GudgeSouth of England'}

{'text': 'Bloxham Underground Tunnel Society'}

{'text': 'The group now has "quite a few lines of enquiry" of other places to explore'}

{'text': '"Since I was a boy, there were rumours circulating and, as you do, you listen to all of the villagers - and that\'s where the stories came from."'}

{'text': 'In 2024, a Facebook discussion in Bloxham about a long-mythologised set of hidden tunnels running underneath the north Oxfordshire village saw locals compare their subterranean tales.'}

{'text': 'Following that exchange of stories, Dave Green - along with a group of fellow villagers - decided to set up the Bloxham Underground Tunnel Society to see if there was any truth to the legend.'}

{'text': 'In the two years since it was first formed, the society has now investigated and uncovered an ever expanding network underneath the quaint village on the edge of the Cotswolds.'}

{'text': '"You\'ve always got sceptics that say there\'s no such thing as a tunnel, there\'s nothing like that, but we\'re out there to prove that there are," Green said.'}

{'text': 'He explained that the tales of the tunnels had "come from the past, but the problem is people don\'t investigate and people die, and the stories die".'}

{'text': '"Unless, that is, you do something about it and try to find out - which is quite difficult," he said.'}

{'text': 'Bloxham Underground Tunnel Society'}

{'text': 'It remains unclear how old the tunnels are'}

{'text': 'The society located and entered their first tunnel last year, which initially came about from "a story from somebody who said when he was a boy he found a tunnel entrance".'}

{'text': 'Once uncovered, a group of expert cavers scouted out the passageway to check it was safe, before the society members inspected it.'}

{'text': '"That was a fantastic feeling, going in there - our very first tunnel," Green said.'}

{'text': 'Since that first discovery, the society now have "quite a few lines of enquiry" on other potential spots around the village.'}

{'text': 'But their latest discovery had more to do with luck than anything else, and Green said it had been located "just by accident".'}

{'text': '"In March we found a really big underground tunnel," he explained.'}

{'text': '"That came after a builder was digging out footings for his garage and the ground caved in, and it [the tunnel] all appeared."'}

{'text': 'He said the society thought it may be part of a "big network" of underground passageways.'}

{'text': 'Bloxham Underground Tunnel Society'}

{'text': 'The society located and entered its first tunnel last year'}

{'text': 'The group has yet been able to confirm when the tunnels under Bloxham date back to, but a discovery in the recently uncovered cave has given them some clues.'}

{'text': '"We found animal bones and one of the skulls we found was a red deer skull - it was a long, long time ago when red deer roamed the countryside, it was definitely pre-medieval," Green said.'}

{'text': '"We need to get it carbon dated because that will hopefully prove the age of the tunnels, although that is very, very difficult."'}

{'text': 'He suggested the tunnel network could date as far back as the Roman period, and may have been "used a lot across different centuries" - including by Catholic clergymen during the English reformation and the dissolution of the monasteries ordered by the then King, Henry VIII.'}