In a farmer’s field in Shropshire, a seemingly innocuous rabbit hole has led to a mysterious underground chamber that, according to some locals, used to be a secret meeting place for a medieval religious order?
image: BBC News March 2017
The Epoch Times writes:
Known as the Caynton Caves, the site is located on private land near the town of Shifnal. It is so well hidden that someone could easily walk right by it without even seeing it. The entrance is so small that a person has to crouch just to enter. One meter below the ground, the cave is cramped. It features pillars, bays, and apses carved into the sandstone bedrock. The interior is adorned with carvings, including two crosses symbolizing the once-powerful Catholic military order known as the Knights Templar…
More recent inscriptions from the current century are also visible, which were carved into the stone by vandals for practicing ‘black magic.’ The original purpose of the caves remains a mystery. Yet, experts dispute the connection between the caves and the famed knights. Historic England estimates that they date back between the late 1700s to early 1800s. The site is believed to be what is called a ‘folly’—a playful, architectural work of art with no real, functional purpose…
Photographer Michael Scott, from Birmingham, went to picture the caves after seeing a video of them online… ‘Considering how long it’s been there it’s in amazing condition, it’s like an underground temple. I had to crouch down and once I was in it was completely silent. There were a few spiders in there but that was it. It was raining so the slope down was quite sludgy but inside the cave was bone dry…’
Architecturally, the caves exhibit neo-Norman, Romanesque Revival style—characteristics of a Victorian grotto. The farm owner had originally kept the grotto open for public viewing, but sealed it in 2012 when visitors started using it for Halloween rituals and vandalizing it….
For background see BBC News (March 2017)
