Kirkstall Abbey Tunnel - Myth or Maybe...?

jonleeds · Post by **jonleeds** » Wed 16 Nov, 2011 3:14 am

Back in the Spring of 2006 I was exploring in Hawksworth Woods. I literally stumbled across a strange sight buried in deep spring undergrowth. I had unknowingly uncovered the long lost entrance to the original Kirkstall Abbey Tunnel...Over the past 5 years many people have tried to dismiss the existence of a tunnel as an urban myth. There have been many tales told, huddled around the 3 bar electric fires of Leeds on a cold winters night about secret tunnels dug out for monks to escape from the Abbey when they were being persecuted by Henry VIII's men for being devout catholics when the country was forced into protestantism (I nearly said prostitution!). Obviously these stories which have been passed down the centuries from one generation to the next have become distorted and bits have been changed, added on for dramatic effect etc. Its got so that there are now legends of buried papal treasures - solid gold crucifixes / priceless holy relics, the holy grail etc that were saved from desecration and destruction at the hands of the protestants. Now as the saying goes there is no smoke without fire and I would like to think that as far-fetched as some of these local legends might be there is at least a grain of truth behind them. Around the time of the dissolution of the monastaries many people - including some very important and wealthy people and other members of aristocracy / gentry refused to change their faith to suit the the kings bed-hopping antics. So they continued to worship in secret and this worship required the attendance of priests and what amounted to an underground catholic clergy. These people were running the risk of death / torture by defying the kings orders. It also didnt help that the king was paranoid about a catholic uprising and attempt to remove and replace him from the throne with a catholic king who would restore the country to catholicism. So these fugitive priests etc were also likely to be accused of plotting to commit treason as well even though most were totally innocent. So the reason for a tunnel is sound enough, and why would anyone even make up such a story? Secret passages / hidden rooms / hiding places etc are not works of fiction, infact most of this stuff we see in stately homes of this kind originates from these tumultuous times. Therefore its not complete nonsense neither. These things exist. I have seen one at Oakwell Hall in Birstall where a secret tunnel leads from behind panelling in an upstairs room, down a spiral staircase and along an underground passageway to emerge over a hundred yards away from the house so that people could escape in the event of a raid by the kings men. Anyway I could go on for ages about all the other potential places where the Kirkstall Abbey Secret Tunnel originate / leads to. Here I just want to discuss the tunnel that I discovered 5 years ago. Well enough talk - have a look at these pictures of mine and tell me what you think:andand…!People have claimed that the tunnel is only a few feet deep but when the solid iron door is buried beneath 4 foot of earth with only the top 8 inches visible and only able to open wide enough to squeeze my hand through with my camera to take a photograph I find it hard to see how anyone could know the length of the tunnel. Indeed some photos were posted by some persons who reckoned they had climbed inside and that it came to a dead end, and the laugh of it is - THEY WERE MY ORIGINAL PHOTOS!!! The cheek of it! LOL!Also people have tried to debunk my Kirkstall Abbey Secret Tunnel (copyright 2011 JohnnyLeeds!) by making and issue of the first few feet of the tunnel being bricks and mortar and having a solid cast iron door. Yes this is true, but if you inspect the interior photo above you will see that after a couple of feet the more modern bricks and mortar gives way to a much more ancient masonry from rough cut stone. Also these same Kirkstall Abbey Secret Tunnel debunkers are trying to say that the tunnel is only a few feet long, well yes the part of the tunnel which you can see in the interior photo is indeed only a few feet in length, BUT this isnt the entire tunnel. You can just make out that the tunnel towards what looks like the end is making a RIGHT-HAND TURN ! ! ! Yes the tunnel as you enter the ancient masonry work section immediately turns to the right, and hence out of view from anyone trapped behind the iron tunnel entrance door. Now then if these guys who claim the tunnel is a dead end and only about 4 foot in length did really get inside, why didn’t they take another photograph of the tunnel section as it goes around the corner? Well I will tell you why… Because they haven’t been inside the tunnel !! So what this means is that beyond the visible part of my Kirkstall Abbey Secret Tunnel interior photographs lies a long stretch of unexplored / unphotographed tunnel that leads back to Kirkstall Abbey! Who knows what treasures might lie hidden along its dank recesses, maybe even subterranean ‘priest holes’ where catholic priests / secret catholics could have hidden from the kings men who were persecuting them. Perhaps inside these underground refuges there are medieval religious treasures that were hidden away to save them being destroyed by the protestant population. Of course this could just be the ramblings of a crazy person who is awake far too long after his bedtime, in all likelihood the tunnel maybe goes onwards for about another 10 yards around the corner and then it might be impassable due to a cave in or something. Put it this way, when I do get inside, if I discover there is a long length of tunnel which disappears into inky darkness I’m not going to go trundling along it as its most likely crumbling / dangerous. Anyway I’m gonna do a great explore this weekend if the weather is OK and take in these local (to me) sites of the Woodside Quarry buried cellars and walk down to the Kirkstall Abbey Secret Tunnel entrance, but this time take a spade with me to excavate the door so I can open it up wide enough to squeeze inside and put this matter to rest once and for all. So watch this space! I’ve been asked to do this by a local guy from Horsforth who is something of a historian of the Horsforth area and who has worked on things before for the Horsforth Museum. He said he would like to accompany me and he will be bringing a spade too and maybe his son for an extra pair of hands. So if anyone would like to join us let me know by Saturday. Anyway sorry for the crazy rant above, I have been writing this in Word and kept coming back to it over the evening so its turned into something of an essay! Thanks for bearing with me…

The Parksider · Post by **The Parksider** » Wed 16 Nov, 2011 7:48 am

jonleeds wrote: Back in the Spring of 2006 I was exploring in Hawksworth Woods. I literally stumbled across a strange sight buried in deep spring undergrowth. I had unknowingly uncovered the long lost entrance to the original Kirkstall Abbey Tunnel...I have been writing this in Word and kept coming back to it over the evening so its turned into something of an essay! Thanks for bearing with me… Great post Jon.Hawksworth woods are more riddled with quarries than Clayton Woods (great piece on thet from you Jon) so I'd guess this is an explosives store??

tilly · Post by **tilly** » Wed 16 Nov, 2011 8:05 am

Hi jonleeds talking about hidden gold from what i can remember reading the gold used in Kirkstall Abbey has never been found.It was supposed to have been hidden by the monks before they came to wreck the place by order of Henry The Eighth.So who knows if i see you driveing a rolls i will know its been found.He He Good luck this weekend.

Phill_dvsn · Post by **Phill_dvsn** » Wed 16 Nov, 2011 12:54 pm

I would have to say the tunnel is very small and narrow for any kind of human traffic Jon. To all intents it looks to me as if it is some old watercourse, drain or leat gate. The slope on the floor at the beginning of the tunnel lending credence to it being an outflow. The metal gate is an unusual feature agreed, but it's just as possible it was operated to hold, or collect water inside, or stop water entering the tunnel perhaps?Whatever, It does resemble in size and construction this old water course to be seen in the Meanwood beck tunnel system. Good luck with your digging and exploration though, let us know how you get on

Cardiarms · Post by **Cardiarms** » Wed 16 Nov, 2011 1:32 pm

I'm not sure why you'd want a tunnel to a closed down monastery? Looks interesting though. As a point of pedantry, until the connection to Kirkstall is established, it's in Hawksworth and is therefore the Hawksworth Tunnel. ;-D Keep us posted!

Phill_dvsn · Post by **Phill_dvsn** » Wed 16 Nov, 2011 1:43 pm

And the Monks were advanced enough construction wise to know all about drainage systems. The drain in the monks' reredorter or toilet at Kirkstall Abbey.

biggee99 · Post by **biggee99** » Wed 16 Nov, 2011 5:23 pm

If you need a other person who can fit where a rat fits i would like to go, been around a bit and keep quite if needed.

Leodian · Post by **Leodian** » Wed 16 Nov, 2011 7:20 pm

Jon's photos show what seem to be nice examples of what are called 'snottites'. They are formed by bacteria and are found in such as sewers and some underground passages and are so named because they look a bit like snot!

Post by **cnosni** » Thu 17 Nov, 2011 10:59 am

Phill_dvsn wrote: And the Monks were advanced enough construction wise to know all about drainage systems. The drain in the monks' reredorter or toilet at Kirkstall Abbey. Indeed they were Phil,but tunneling is a completeley different kettle of fish,with inherent dangers and of course the length of time it would take to dig.If the monks did have advance warning then im sure they would have spirited it away rather than build a tunnel.I would imagine that in those days to build a masonry lined tunnel would have taken a pretty long time.

Chrism · Post by **Chrism** » Thu 17 Nov, 2011 12:44 pm

Leodian wrote: Jon's photos show what seem to be nice examples of what are called 'snottites'. They are formed by bacteria and are found in such as sewers and some underground passages and are so named because they look a bit like snot! Cheers for that L, allus wondered what those things were.