Mapping the Mysterious Cave Network Under Nottingham

If ever there was a true race of Mole People, they probably came out of Nottingham. The inhabitants of this legendary British city have been mining the soft sandstone ridge below them for more than a thousand years, hollowing out a complex labyrinth of roughly 450 caverns, the extent of which is still not fully understood.

These lacunae perforating the earth below Nottingham's modern housing have served as tanneries, cess pits, dungeons, summer homes, malt kilns, sand quarries, wine cellars, meat-curing rooms, decorative follies, pigeon coops and allegedly a bowling alley, although I'm having a hard time finding corroboration for that one. Edward III's army is said to have used a tunnel called "Mortimer's Hole" in 1330 to slip into town and capture the rebellious nobleman Roger de Mortimer. The Sheriff of Nottingham reputedly ensconced Robin Hood in a dank pit that was later used as a prison chapel. During World War II, the British fled into the cave system to avoid air raids, and at one point it also housed glowing stocks of radium.