What lies beneath our city?

I noticed in the Telegraph today (28th Jan) that they believe there could be more chambers under the old Cathedral that have not been found as yet. In 1957 a man had the same idea reguarding St. Mary's Hall. J.B. Shelton thought there was a secret chamber behind the wall in the Freemasons room. As both buildings are only a road width apart this could a possibilty. Nothing is fact about this story, nor is it being proven, but maybe these buildings are connected. One of the chambers that have been found is now a cafe, and they know of a couple more that they intend to open to the public once they are damp-proofed and cleaned out. The same type of undercroft/vaulted chambers connect a number of buildings in the High Street. These are mentioned in another thread.

Another piece of information that came out of the newspaper that day is that the lower basement of the old Owen Owen building is the size of 4 football pitches. I did know that it reached out as far as the road in Ironmonger Row, as they had to support the road up via metal girders. But did not know it was that large. They called it "the black hole of Calcutta". And I believe it is lower than the basement level of the building. Other items raised on the page were that of the River Sherbourne under the city (see separate thread) and the famous Mini Coopers in the sewers. We have already covered the subways in another thread, so do you know of any more places that have not seen the light of day for many years?

When I was a student at the Poly 25 years ago, there were rumours and 'legends' about tunnels underneath the Cathedral and the city centre - plus stories of tunnels under the old GEC site in Hillfields. I believe one rumour was of a tunnel linking the Cathedral to another of the old abbey/churches! Although not really true, these rumours do seem to have some foundation in the fact that there are chambers underneath Drapers Hall and the Cathedral...

The large area under the old Owen Owens incorporates the basement of their store built in the late 1930s and is therefore the shape of a flatiron on the footprint of the shop between Cross Cheaping and the then new Trinity Street. The service access in Palmer Lane was the service access to the old store reused for the new one in the 1950s.

I think Dutchman posted a photo inside the 'bunker' a while ago - will try to find.

Theres a comment on the true Coventarian (I know?!) Facebook page that mentions : " Before we moved to Warwick Row I used to work at Royal Insurance in the High St. We used to have to do filing in the basement and there were really old arches in brick and, as I understood it, there were tunnels that went all over the place underneath the town. I believe these were connected to St Mary's Guildhall"

There is a photo here in this topic that shows one of the "rooms" - was this the one you were thinking of Neil? There may well be more in other threads!

Not sure if anyone has seen this before, it 's from the MACE archive in 1968 entitled meet the Mayor. A 7 min film looking around the city interviewing several people, after 3 mins of the clip it shows people in an underground room not sure where it is. Have a look at the link. Meet the mayor 1968

It looks like it could be what is now known as "The Crypt" - the cafe/restaurant below St Mary's Guildhall. Great find Dean!

Yep think you're right Tony - Its a lovely place for a coffee that does not advertise itself enough!

Does anyone know how far the Coventry Colliery mine tunnels reached?

Mick, the old miners told me that when they were underground they could feel the shocks from the big presses in Motor Panels in Holbrooks Lane which was directly above where they were working.

Hi Mick, don't know much about coal mines but I don't know if this site is any help to you. Interactive map.

I know it's not open to the public, but does anyone know where the access point is to the Old Star Inn undercroft on Earl Street?

Is this any use Neil, it is from the Historic England Site "Late medieval cellar of an inn now incorporated in the Civic Centre. Significant erosion of the sandstone took place as a result of water damage. The stone vault was propped in 2008 and damaged stonework repaired. The buildings above (with the exception of the recently listed former architects' offices) have been demolished. No site inspection has been possible this year."