No tunnels are currently accessible from St Hilary’s at the present date, and the vault beneath the old tower was covered by a tiled floor in the late nineteenth century. But according to the rector, Canon Paul Robinson, one of the parishioners remembers going down a tunnel in the thirties, below Swinton Old Hall, the site of the modern rectory, a few hundred years away from the old tower. According to Joseph Ruiz, a well exists beneath the front sitting room of the old rectory, fifteen feet wide and 350 feet deep, and it is believed to lead to a tunnel; this is also mentioned in an article in the Wirral News . The article refers to a legend that says an underground passage leads from the rectory to the church (presumably the old tower) and then on to Mother Redcap’s. It goes on to maintain that the Old Rectory was a cache for gun-runners during the reign of Charles II. Oral tradition mentions a smugglers’ tunnel leading from one of the graves in the churchyard..
find out more about the Secret Tunnels of Wallasey on my Historic Tours every Sunday in New Brighton. Tickets now on sale. Book now
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