A giant sinkhole suddenly swallowed part of a road in Godstone, a village in Surrey, England, causing homes to be evacuated and leaving some residents "terrified," according to BBC News. The unexpected chasm disrupted the quiet village and sparked theories about a mysterious labyrinth of previously unknown underground tunnels and forgotten quarries hidden beneath the surface.
Peter Burgess, an expert from the Wealden Cave and Mining Society, studied the underground caves and crevices in and around Godstone for years. He advised Surrey County Council on the risks posed by these long-forgotten caverns. "The problem with the caves is they were all dug well before the days when such things had to be properly recorded," said Burgess.
"Once they were closed and abandoned, memories went and people forgot where they were—and that's why they cause a problem today," Burgess stated. The lack of records made it challenging to predict where issues might arise. "Sadly, in the village here, there's very little on record," he lamented.
The caves in Godstone were excavated to obtain exceptionally pure sand known as silver sand. This sand was highly prized and used in industries from glass production to horticulture, especially during the Victorian era. "Most of the underground workings closed by about 1900, and then the industry moved on to open casting, big open pits, which we can still see today," Burgess added.
The exact number of caves throughout Godstone remains unknown due to the lack of proper historical records. "There's a scattering of caves throughout the village, or there have been; the issue being of course we don't know how many because they'd been long forgotten," Burgess said.
"Most of the sites are either unsurveyed or lost or collapsed or filled in," Burgess noted. This made it difficult to assess potential risks. Occasionally, the entrances to these caves could be spotted on old maps, but often it was local memory or unforeseen events that revealed them. "Sometimes it happens that in someone's garden, the ground suddenly collapses, revealing access to a forgotten cave," Burgess noted.
While most of the caves in Godstone have long disappeared, Burgess pointed out that nearby Reigate has preserved its underground passages. "Reigate's different; they've all been preserved," he said.
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.