Inside creepy abandoned tunnel system underneath shopping centre and its VERY mysterious 100-year-old history
CREEPY photos have revealed a 100-year-old tunnel network running below a shopping centre – and no one knows what the system was made for.
The underground passageways were built a century ago but only discovered some five years ago after a sinkhole opened up at a Primark car park in Thanet, Kent.
Although the tunnels under the Westwood Cross shopping centre were built roughly 100 years ago, no one knows their purpose.
Some believe they were created as secret war tunnels around the time of World War I.
But it is not known if this was before or after the conflict.
If that is the case, it’s thought they could have been used as an old Army practice site for training exercises.
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Others think they could have been built after the conflict in preparation for further fighting.
The images - taken by local history group - show the extent of the network just feet below the clothes rails of the Primark store.
They reveal a number of caves and passageways cut into the rock and also show where they were bricked up.
The shopping centre's owners submitted a Freedom of Information request to the Ministry of Defence in 2015 in the hope of getting some answers.
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It asked for records of the tunnels and requested a map of the complex.
That proved to be a dead end though as the MoD had “no information” on the tunnels and the history and exact scale of them remains shrouded in mystery.
The Thanet Hidden History group revealed the air raid shelter under the shopping centre had been sealed permanently years ago to prevent further damage.
Earlier this month, photos revealed 200-year-old extensive tunnels dug out for a Welsh mine.
Local explorers discovered the previously unseen parts of the tunnel network in Llandudno.
The historic town was home to a 19th Century copper mine before it was lost to flooding.
However, in 1985 a group of local enthusiasts came together to research and promote the history of The Great Orme, a limestone lump that stands out in the sea.
It was during their research that they discovered miles of tunnels running from underneath the town's streets out to the mound itself.
Now, pictures taken by the Great Orme Exploration Society (GOES) have revealed what it's like inside the narrow, dark mineshaft.
