Experts reveal fascinating insights about 'tunnels' underneath Northampton's Market Square

A report conducted by experts looking into potential tunnels underneath Northampton’s Market Square has revealed some fascinating insights.

Chron and Echo has been looking into the age-old claims that there are tunnels running underneath the Market Square following the start of £8.4 million works to refurbish the square.

An archaeological report commissioned by West Northants Council and conducted by Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) has offered expert insight into the situation.

The first interesting nugget of information confirms a number of tunnels and cellars were constructed.

The report says: “Cartographic evidence suggests that a group of houses stood in the south-west corner of the Market Square during the 17th century but were not replaced after the fire of 1675. A number of cellars attached to adjacent properties and interconnecting tunnels survive beyond the footprints of the buildings fronting onto the Market Square and some have since been infilled. No complete and accurate plan of the cellar arrangements has yet been produced.”

The report goes on to cite a book called ‘Northampton’s tunnels: fact or fiction?’ written by B Giggins in 1978.

In his book, B Giggins wrote: “A series of subterranean features lies beneath the Market Square. Many theories have been posited concerning their nature and origin but they are likely to be a group of 19th-century interlinked cellars, some of which were adapted as air raid shelters during the Second World War.

"A plan of the cellars was recently compiled which demonstrates they ran northwards from All Saints’ Church for about 50 metres into the Market Square but many have since been blocked up.”

The archaeological report goes on to say that a number of cellars have survived in existing properties in the Market Square.

It reads: "A number of cellars survive in many of the properties surrounding the Market Square. Whilst the true number is not currently known, many will survive only within the footprints of the buildings but several cellars extend beyond the property lines and into the Market Square itself.

"The cellars at Waterloo House at the eastern end of Mercer’s Row should be afforded specific consideration because they extend both to the to the east into the lower end of Abington Street and significantly to the north of the premises into the square.”

The report also mentions drawn plans created in 1939 of an air raid shelter underneath the Market Square, but it goes on to say that ‘there are no other public records which indicate that this was ever constructed’.

The report says: “At the outbreak of the Second World War, it was decided to draw up a plan of those cellars within the Market Square which extended beyond the footprints of the buildings. The plan (pictured) shows the underground link between the vaults adjacent to the church and the south-eastern side of the square together with the cellars at Waterloo House in Mercer’s Row, which were used as air raid shelters by the following year.

"One plan also shows a large air raid shelter in the centre of the Market Square but this appears to be a later addition to the drawing and may demonstrate an intention to construct a large public shelter if the need arose. There are no other public records which indicate that this was ever constructed.”

Click here to read the report in full.