Mortimer's Hole

Not to give away the climax of my book, but:

Archaeologists in Nottingham say they have uncovered the true site of one of the country's most infamous caves. Mortimer's Hole is reputed to be the route by which Edward III's troops entered the city's castle to capture Roger de Mortimer, in 1330. . . .

The official entrance of Mortimer's Hole is next to Brewhouse Yard but archaeologists now believe the real tunnel originates in a garden in the Park Estate.

The discovery was made during the Nottingham Caves Survey, a two-year project in which a laser scanner is being used to produce a three-dimensional record of Nottingham's sandstone caves. University of Nottingham archaeologist Dr David Walker said: "It's almost certainly the real Mortimer's Hole."

"Early documents talk of a secret passage which the modern one certainly wasn't because it was used for carting stuff up from the River Leen to the castle," he said. "The documents all fit with this tiny sliver of a blocked cave which runs into a man's garden."

Roger de Mortimer was sent to the Tower and then hanged on 29 November 1330.

The archaeologist believes the real Mortimer's Hole is a tunnel currently known as the North-Western Passage.

From the house on Castle Grove in the Park Estate, the passage stretches for 30-40 metres and is partly filled with rubble.

Dr Walker said, once you get past the debris, the full height of the tunnel is exposed and there are rock cut steps at the bottom and an arch at the top.

These images of the caves are interesting, too.