# Crank caverns 2015



## Lavino (Jun 20, 2015)

This isn't really a good report but not much gets posted about these caverns I went here in January 15 it's quite close by to me. But only went armed with my iPhone and a torch. This report is more about the tales and myths that surround these caves. I did go down in to the caves but not to far as was on my own in there and didn't want to get lost or anything so only a few externals I'm afraid. But hoping to get back there soon. So here's a bit of history and a couple of pics...


The small village of Crank close to Rainford in Merseyside is not the sort of place where you would expect to encounter a vast underground man made cave system, however this little known strange place does exist and many legends are attached to this disturbing place
Four children decided to explore the limestone caverns in the area and vanished. One child survived and told a terrifying tale about small old men with beards who killed his three friends and chased him.

The petrified child stumbled over human bones in the caves and finally managed to scramble through an opening to the surface as a hand was grabbing at his ankle. 

The authorities were concerned because a number of people had gone missing in the area near the cave entrances. Two heavily armed soldiers descended into the caverns with torches and claimed that they not only found a heap of human bones, they also found the ruins of an ancient church of some unknown denomination. 

The interior of the church was lit by three large candles and grotesque gargoyles formed part of an altar. 

Throughout the exploration of the underground, the soldiers said they felt as if they were being watched, and also heard voices speaking in an unknown language. One report said that a child's head was found in a cave, along with evidence of cannibalism. After a second investigation, the caves either collapsed or gunpowder was used to seal them, and so the riddle of the underground church of Billinge remains unsolved.
The caverns are actually the remains of the Rainford Delph Quarry. in which mining ceased in 1865. The surrounding woods and caverns were later used as a game reserve by the Earl of Derby, and in the WW2 they became a storage facility for ammunition for the Anti Aircraft position at Crank.
The Caverns are said to have tunnels leading to them from some of the buildings in
the Village, one use was for the Catholic priests to escape from the
Parliamentarians/Cromwell’s soliders.At this time Catholic priests were
being killed and were banned from saying mass, so they had to practice mass in
private at places such as Birchley Hall, tunnels from the hall are said to lead to the caverns.
The main caverns are fairly new compared
to the main tunnel system which starts at the mousey, Level 1 was for
mining-nothing else, although one passage which streches to the 12 yarder does
connect with the original level 2 main system. Level 2 was there first, this was
a large network of tunnels leading to many known places in the St Helens area
including the Stork Hotel Billinge, Lowe House Church, Carrmill area, St Aidens
Church Billinge etc. The tunnels also run under a lot of the Pubs in the
Billinge area, not all of them have entrances, but i believe the tunnel network
under the Billinge arms (George and Dragon) may hide a dark secret.
The Stork Inn in the village of Billinge located 2-3 miles from the cave entrance and where one of the tunnels is said to have connected with the cellar some time in the past.There is a story that the Church was once above ground, but due to part of the
Cavern’s tunnels collapsing, the Church sunk into the ground and fell inside the caverns.


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## Lavino (Jun 20, 2015)

Here's a little video I did...


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## krela (Jun 20, 2015)

Thanks for posting, but for things like this where there's only a couple of photos it's probably better off posting in this thread:

http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/general-stuff/24889-urbex-photos-thread-2-a.html

as there's not really enough to warrant a full report thread, the story is interesting though.


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