Tunnel Museum Opens

During the Great War beneath the unassuming French town of Arras and the German enemy, the New Zealand Tunnelling Company built two interconnected tunnels, almost 20km long and able to hide 25,000 troops. The tunnellers named this dark, damp kingdom – rediscovered in 1990 – after home towns. From one huge quarry called Auckland, soldiers could march through to Wellington, Nelson, Blenheim, Christchurch and Dunedin. Canteens, chapels, power stations, a light railway and even a fully functioning hospital were all established below ground. A £3 million visitor centre and a lift have just been opened to the public. Head of Arras’s archaeology department Alain Jacques said: “I could not understand why there was all this English writing on the pillars and signs to places such as Wellington,” he said, still thrilled at the  recollection of his discovery. “And then I worked out that these must be the tunnels of the Great War.”