WAS there once an underground network of tunnels beneath the streets of Taunton?

That is what one curious citizen is hoping to find out and she has already found some intriguing evidence and is calling on locals to help her discover more.

For 24-year-old Shonie Millward-Usher, the project all started when she was walking through Bath Place in Taunton and spotted part of a wall that was made out of wood and after a bit of investigating ended up discovering a blocked-up tunnel.

"There is already a known tunnel running between Wilton Gaul and County Court, and there are rumours of tunnels all over town," Shonie said.

"For example there are rumours of Judge Jeffreys using the tunnels to transport himself during the Monmouth rebellion because the rest of Taunton was trying to lynch him."

Since discovering the first tunnel Shonie has been on a mission to try and find more.

She already has evidence of former tunnels under businesses in Taunton High Street, a tunnel entrance at Bishop's Hull, and is interested in investigating rumours of a former Cold War bunker located underneath the Post Office.

Both Frome and Exeter have complex tunnel networks and Shonie thinks Taunton may have had something similar which could date back to Tudor times.

Shonie believes the tunnels could have been used to escort prisoners, get worshippers to and from church during the reformation or may have worked as part of a sewage system.

She has set up an open Facebook group called Underground Taunton where she wants people to get involved and share their stories regarding any tunnels or rumoured tunnels.

"Everyone I speak to who has lived here 40 years or more has stories of their own about the tunnels. I’ve had people talk to me about tunnels all over Taunton from St Mary Magdalene Church to the Pitcher and the Piano," Shonie added.

"It is about understanding why they are there. For example why there is a tunnel at Bishop’s Hull? Even if it is just an Old Victorian sewage outlet, I’d like to know that it was an Old Victorian Sewage outlet! That’s all that Exeter’s tunnels are and they get thousands of visitors."

Shonie said that everything has been built on top of so much in Taunton that only fragments are left behind.

The aim of the Underground Taunton group is to record as many of the tunnels as possible and to get them identified by the Heritage Centre.

Shonie concluded: "A lot of the success so far has come via word-of-mouth anecdotes and I suspect there are more stories out there waiting to be told."