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Old Tom Sawbridge (who lived on Newport Road) used to tell me all sorts of interesting things about Hanslope, back in the 1980s when I was a kid.

One of these things was that there's a tunnel running under the length of the High Street, from the Watts Arms to either the Church or to the Scarsbrook's cottage on the Green (I know there are priest holes in that cottage because they showed me!)

Does anyone know if this tunnel still exists, and if it has been explored recently?

HanslopianGhost x

My father, Cliff Eakins, used to tell us that when he was a child (1920's) there was a secret passage under the Watts Arms leading to the field behind the Watts Arms. He used to play in the field and it was known then as gretus yard (great house yard) and that he understood there had been some big house on the site a long time ago. Part of it had fallen in years previously and he thought it had all been partly filled in.

Hi Judith! That big house would have been Stokes Manor, built c1450, which was on the site where Western Drive is now located. It's fascinating that your dad remembered its remains

Your dad would have been a contemporary of Tom's I guess? Tom was born in 1909 and died just a few years ago. He used to love telling me historical stuff about the village; his dad (Victor Walter Sawbridge) had been the butcher and he gave me graphic descriptions of the slaughter that went on behind the shop. He also told me about the village pump that stood in the Market Square, just in front of the bus shelter - there was still a visible flat stone where it stood in the pavement there about 15 years ago but Ive no idea if you can still see this today.

While a schoolchild at Hanslope from the later 1940's (and into the early 1950's), there were several tales of tunnels. The main school then was our `primary school', the front playground wall of which still stands in front of the present school buildings, oposite what I think was Stocking Green Farm? The stories abounded of tunnels from St James's to The Big House, that stood near the site of Green End Farm behind the school. Behind the school, then a field, in the middle of which was a large pond, this was said to be a feature of the `House's' garden, an ornamental fish pond, or it was said to be where the tunnel had fallen in and filled with water. This tunnel was also said to be connected to the Watts Arms. But there was told of yet another tunnel that went out to `Luton Hoo', another big house, but we never knew where that was, except it was thought to be near the remains of a ruined church and village next to the `Pack Horse'(pub) Bridge on the Newport Pagnell Road. These were visible from the bridge untill recent times, maybe still are? Of course the tunnel called Digby's Walk at Gayhurst is still there. Of rumour and fact only the Digby's Tunnel is in evidence and unless there was an excavation made soon, nothing will ever be known for sure, as the village is redeveloped and built upon, any remains will be destroyed.
There were other stories of Luton Hoo circulating in those days too, it was speculated they started from the civil war that raged across the region in olden days. Priest holes, tunnels and secret chambers, a fascinating topic and all the more so if you were part of the fabric it was embroidered in.
VBR

Fascinating stuff! Thanks VBR. Do you know any more about the ruins of the church and village that you say were visible along the Newport Road - whereabouts? I'm not sure where the Pack Horse bridge is, and I need to go looking for this

The Packhorse Bridge used to be adjacent to 'The Packhorse' pub on the 'Newport road' just a mile outside of New Bradwell towards Newport. The original 'hump backed' bridge has long been replaced with a modern one, but standing on the parapit away from the pub, if you look across the field, about a hundred or so yards, you will see mounds in the earth under the grass. This is the remains of what we kids wrongly thought was Luton Hoo. Several years ago, when I was last there, development had not 'crossed' the canal at that point of the Newport road and the mounds were easily visible. The churches stone work and some of the gravestones were still showing above the grass, but all of the cottages were reduced to low mounds under the turf. How it is today, I cannot say, maybe someone else in here has more up to date information?

That's great, thank you! I rarely go back to Hanslope but will try to take a look when I'm there next. Will also have a good look at the old maps website

The `Luton Hoo' we kids romanced over in those far off times of our schooldays, does actualy exsist. Today it is a large luxury hotel, but then it was a Large manor house near Luton and Harpenden. What we children thought was a ruined big house, the remains of which were lost, was in fact an exsisting house which in earlier times had a sphere of influence reaching Hanslope, which is how it was known of, albeit with a confused and inacurate view. A long tunnel it would be, if it were a fact? A schoolboys vivid imagination, magnified by rumour and speculation, truth had little to do with it, right? There is the chance also that there was confusion caused by another Hoo, Lilly Hoo was an old farm somewhere beyond Stocking Green Farm.

One might be puzzled today at the size of the area covered here, children today do not go far from home unacompanied, but back in the fifties it was not uncommon for children to range quite large distances as most of us had bicycles, the markets/shops of Newport Pagnal, Wolverton, Stony Stratford, Buckingham and Northampton would be considered within easy reach of a 10 year old child on a cycle, in Hanslope.

The ruined church and village that we kids had targeted, were likely the ruins Stanton Low and St Peter's and did have a manor at one time? But today they are not so visible from the road as the hedgerows are now a healthy feature of woodland proportions, they don't lay hedges like they used to! A short walk or even a drive however and the churches remains are quite prominant. but the mounds that were the cottages are a lot less obvious now, time has took its toll of these humble dwellings of the working folk who once lived here, Stanton Low was abandoned late in the nineteenth century. These mounds were to the east of the ruined church, you can still see some of the iregularities on the google maps satelite view.

From the north and Newport end of the Black Horse bridge parapet, turn into the towpath, it looks as though this is accessible by car today, drive or walk along the towpath on banks of the Grand Union Canal, soon this turns into a track that separates from the towpath and the ruined village would have been along on your left, beyond this you can see the remains of the church. The church has been `tidied up' since I was last here and now has a preservation order protecting it. Gravel extraction and the developement of the lakes and canal as a leasure amenity, have done little to enhance these ruins.

Wikimapia illustrates this nicely on:- http://wikimapia.org/#lat=52.0765981&lo ... 17&l=0&m=b cut and past into your brouser if this doesn't link up.


* `Senior moment' people, for Pack Horse, read Black Horse! err! Sorry, um!

Referance my last post and if you examine the wikimapia (powered by Google maps), if you `zoom out' a little, Stanton Low was not so far from Hanslope as the crow flies. But too far for a tunnel I should think. A tunnel under the High Street I could believe, given the alignments between St James's, The Cock and Stokes Manor. If Scarsbrook's was what is now No4 The Green and that has priest holes, the posibility of a tunnel network becomes very convincing, how much of it still remains however, would be purely speculation, as an archeological dig in the middle of Hanslope would be near imposible to organise, even with the help of `Time Team'! Maybe if the entrances were found, it could give some insight into where they were sited/routed? The Hanslope we all knew, was a quiet sleepy agricultural village, but in the past it was not alway so, a major lace making industry producing high quality lace in quantity as well as a small watch and clock company, swelled the size of Hanslope to much the size it enjoys today, making the village an important one, it is why it has such an impressive church and spire. No doubt, back in the civil war and other times of trouble, priest holes and tunnels would be important to the survival of clergy and local nobles alike.

Someone POST something! I cannot believe there's no-one been in here since my last visit!