A Family Was Renovating Their Townhome—and Found a Secret WWI Tunnel Underneath
A renovation of a townhome in Tielt, Belgium, led to the discovery of a secret tunnel system under the historic structures.
The townhome complex was commandeered by the Germans during World War I and used for roughly four years during the war.
A shaft drops from the back of one townhome into an 18th century water cistern system but has a more recent tunnel connection to a cellar beneath a nearby home.
We can't say for sure that a recently discovered secret tunnel connecting historic townhomes in Belgium was created by the Germans during World War I after they commandeered the properties, but a recent Dutch-language report into the find makes that possibility quite likely.
During a renovation project in Tielt, Belgium, near the historic city center at the Nieuwstraat townhouses, the homeowner remodeling a floor at Nieuwstraat No. 7 discovered a hidden well cap with a nearly 13-foot-deep shaft underneath it, according to a translated statement from Belgium's Agency for Immovable Heritage. The shaft connected to a closed-off 18th century water well and, more interestingly, links to a nearly 32-foot-long tunnel only about four feet high that may have been built during the German occupation.
The tunnel connects Nieuwstraat No. 7 to a cellar underneath Nieuwstraat No. 5. Finding a 100-year-old tunnel underneath your home is surprising regardless, but slightly (only slightly) less so when considering the history of the townhouse complex. During World War I, the Germans took over the townhome complex and made Nieuwstraat a four-year-long headquarters. The site served as a crucial Fourth Army command center featuring a war room that scripted the first chlorine gas attack and flamethrower uses in 1915 while coordinating operations on the Western Front until French bombardment in 1918.
According to the report, this context makes it 'likely that this tunnel was built as an escape route.'
'Given the strategic function of the property,' the statement read, 'with the map cabinet and top generals above the floor, that is not a forgotten theory.'
The history of the home dates further back than German occupation. The house was built in 1769 on a plot of land once housing a small community of Franciscans. In 1906 a doctor purchased the house and extended it toward the rear. But in summer 1914, German troops invaded neutral Belgium and in October 1914 decided to house military command for the Fourth Army in Tielt, out of the range of enemy artillery, but strategically located near road and rail infrastructure.
Nieuwstraat No. 7 become a strategic center that featured a 1:20,000 replica of the front lines.
The tunnel find came near another underground find. One metal manhole cover gave access to a brick water well that featured the same bricks used when the house was constructed. But more surprising was a second manhole cover about three feet away. This one covered a vertical shaft with non-connected walls positioned between the well and house with supports made of bricks and beams that came well after initial home construction. 'All these elements made it clear that this shaft is a later addition,' according to the report.
At the bottom of the shaft, a northwest wall appeared to have been breached, featuring an opening over seven feet high that leads directly into a well. 'The opening was cut through the brick wall, but neatly finished,' according to the report. Once in the well, there was a brick tunnel with a barrel vault running northwest, parallel to the rear of the houses in the Nieuwstraat. At the end of the tunnel a now-blocked passage gave access to the cellar of Nieuwstraat No. 5.
While the report noted that the well and cisterns were likely original construction when the house was built, the work of the shaft with its metal I-beams and the cut in the well 'can be dated to after 1909.'
By ensuring the vertical shaft was inside the building, it also allowed for unseen movement between homes. While the tunnel was still somewhat small for comfortable human use, the shape of the tunnel, neat finishes of the interior, lack of slope, dimensions, and use of construction elements such as iron and steel make its use as a water conveyance tunnel unlikely. 'The remarkable history of the house makes another function more likely,' according to the report, 'namely an escape route from the First World War.'
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