Kirkstall Abbey Tunnel - Myth or Maybe...?

polo · Post by **polo** » Sat 08 Feb, 2014 3:55 am

hmm used in 1945 sounds recent in relative terms even if its on a housing estate it most veer off of the estate at some point

Post by **cnosni** » Sat 08 Feb, 2014 10:16 pm

The question that has to be asked is why would the monks need a tunnel in the first place?The answer is that there is no reason why they would need one,so im going to go for myth.

jim · Post by **jim** » Sat 08 Feb, 2014 10:34 pm

Monks seem to have had little in the way of entertainment, so I can quite see why the idea of winding up succeeding generations to make dubious guesses as to the entrances and exits of non-existent tunnels might appeal.....

polo · Post by **polo** » Sun 09 Feb, 2014 12:05 am

get time team in and their geophysics equipment in theyd be able to suss it lol

Post by **mhoulden** » Sun 09 Feb, 2014 2:14 am

Could it be that the secret tunnel is now the sewer that runs under Abbey Road? I remember these roadworks taking nearly 6 months to complete, and it wasn't always fragrant when they were working on them: http://www.yorkshirewater.com/pressrele ... 1400350F07. It was supposed to take no more than 3 months, so I wonder what caused the delays. The sewer will probably have joined up with the old Horsforth or Rodley sewage works, and reusing an existing tunnel would be easier than digging a new one.

tilly · Post by **tilly** » Sun 09 Feb, 2014 9:10 am

Then we can get on to all the silver used in the abbey that they say was hidden and not recovered.Could be in the tunnel.LOL

Steve Jones · Post by **Steve Jones** » Sun 09 Feb, 2014 3:43 pm

tilly wrote: Then we can get on to all the silver used in the abbey that they say was hidden and not recovered.Could be in the tunnel.LOL You mean "Where there's muck there's brass"<LOL>?

Leodian · Post by **Leodian** » Wed 12 Feb, 2014 7:15 pm

Talking of a Kirkstall Abbey tunnel I was interested (and amused) to find that when the route of the York to Scarborough railway was being designed in the 1840's one proposal was for a tunnel that could have been called the Kirkham Abbey tunnel as it would have passed very near the Abbey/Priory as the railway does now.

jonleeds · Post by **jonleeds** » Thu 13 Feb, 2014 9:58 pm

eagle3 wrote: My family, The Eastwoods actually lived in Newlaithes Hall for a time in the late 1800s. I have pics of it and would have searched high and low for more evidence of their presence in Horsforth. I have done exstensive research and was able to pinpoint where they lived thru ancestry records and of course the stories passed down thru the generations. I wish there was more though-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Newlaithes HallThe Hall was an imposing 19th century house built on the site of an earlier house known simply as “Newlaithes”, which belonged to the Pollard family. The new house was built in 1825 by Charles Greenwood and named “Newlaithes Hall”. It was described at the time as being a “...commodious and respectable mansion with well laid out pleasure grounds…”The only visible remains of the original house to be seen were the old stone arches of traditional Norman pattern in the cellars, said to date from the 12th century. There was an underground passage leading from the Hall, which according to legend was used by monks to reach Kirkstall Abbey. This may or may not be true, but we do know that the passage was used for target practice by soldiers during the 1939-1945 war. The Hall was also used to house German prisoners of war ad rumour has it that S.S. officers were interned there.Newlaithes Hall was severely damaged by fire around 1900. Much of the interior was gutted, after which it was rebuilt and divided into two houses containing many fine reception rooms, each house having large areas of garden and woodland. The buildings were demolished in 1964.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------As you can see they refer to some ancient cellars - 12th century, over which was built a later house and from these original cellars ran an 'underground passage' which was also rumoured to be the 'Secret Kirkstall Abbey Tunnel'. I contacted a chap from Newlay Conservation Society regarding this to ask if I might see the remains of this building but he told me that the area where Newlaithes Hall once stood has now been redeveloped and much later houses are built over the site, which is disappointing.So unless the Hawksworth tunnel proves to be fruitful it appears we may never find the real tunnel. It clearly exists as folk have talked about it for hundreds of years, but whether or not it is still accessible from anywhere remains to be seen. I'm afraid that after exploring the Hawksworth Woods tunnel last year with the UK Urbex chaps I discovered the tunnel terminated in a dead end shortly after turning a right hand turn about 15 foot from the iron door entrance. see: http://www.ukurbex.com/index.php?/topic ... eds-2013/I dunno whether the whole thing is myth or real, for years this has been an urban legend - why? I can think of several reasons why people might believe such a thing exists even if nothing of the sort was ever created. Plus evidence of tunnels here and there might lead people to think up fabulous reasons for their existence, then chinese whispers etc and you're there... On the other hand perhaps there is an undiscovered subterranean passageway filled with papal booty hidden from Henry VIII's men?!

tilly · Post by **tilly** » Thu 13 Feb, 2014 10:14 pm

Hi jonleeds if you ever stop posting on here I will know you found the missing Kirkstall Abbey silverI did read that it was never found but I cant for the life of me remember what book it was in.Find the tunnel find the silver.