Underground England - travels Beneath our Cities and Countryside, Stephen Smith - Hardback 302pp - £18.99 (I will do post free to SB members)
UNDERGROUND ENGLAND reveals the caves, tunnels, bunkers and grottoes that riddle the ground beneath our feet. With this book, a follow-up to his well-received Underground London (2004), Stephen Smith, an established journalist and broadcaster, has taken on a rich and various subject. Energetic, curious and attracted by hidden places, legends and dark secrets, he sets out to explore what goes on in caves and grottoes, burial mounds and tunnels, bunkers and earthworks all over England.
It takes an extraordinary and original look at our island nation - from below. Stephen Smith quite literally delves into the unknown country underneath ploughed fields, clifftops and market towns. He explores rudimentary earth dwellings and hidden Cold War cities; sulphurous natural springs and manmade underground waterways; priest holes and subterranean nooks created with more sinister purposes in mind. The author visits the endless military tunnels built below Chatham since the Napoleonic Wars; and the secret labyrinth quarried out under Liverpool by a religious eccentric. He gets into tight spots with speleologists, and gamely ventures down haunted tunnels and into the mythical resting-places of English kings. A fascinating and eye-opening exploration of the world that lies beneath our feet.
Mike
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