The REAL Great Corridor Of The Catacomb!!!

[HStorm]

Did you know that, in a manner of speaking, you can visit the Great Corridor Of The Catacomb? Not the one in Knightmare Castle of course, but there is one of a sort, down in Devon.

Sorry these pics are so dark, but here is a glimpse inside from one of my last visits home in 2015; -

The Catacombs in question are built into the north-west of the Roman City walls of Exeter, at the top of a cemetery in Exe Street that had been established in response to the 1832 Cholera Epidemic. You can find the cemetery a few-dozen metres west of the old 'north gate' crossroads, off Bartholomew Street. (You can even go inside the Catacombs, but only as part of Red Coat guided tour. The tours are free, and you can get information about them at the Cathedral.)

To explain the background; towards the end of the 19th Century, many of the richer people in Exeter developed a rather weird, I daresay slightly morbid, fascination with Ancient Egyptian forms of burial. Some of the more eccentric among them began to see an appeal in having a really grand, Pharoah-like tomb as their final resting place. (I'd have thought by the time they'd snuffed it, they'd be past caring, but clearly they thought otherwise.) So at considerable expense, they had built a series of mock-Egyptian Catacombs, all connected by this lengthy 'corridor.' The tombs themselves are simply called 'The Catacombs,' and somewhat perversely have turned this cemetery into a slightly bizarre tourist attraction.

So, while it doesn't much resemble the moving wall or the toaderdile's lurking place, there is technically a real Great Corridor of the Catacombs in Britain.

[Canadanne]

This is cool!

I've always kind of wished I could have an Ancient Egyptian-style burial chamber with all my stuff in it. But then I probably am quite eccentric...

[HStorm]

Well, it seems entirely possible to get one made, judging by this. Maybe you can even have yourself buried in the Exeter Catacombs? You live in the West Country.

[HStorm]

Oh, found this website for the Red Coat tours.

https://www.visitexeter.com/things-to-d ... rs-p336873

To anyone who has never visited Exeter, the Cathedral is one of the greatest and most beautiful buildings in Europe, and is worth the trip on its own. Fabulous place to start one of the tours from.

[Beltane]

Those are awesome! I love hidden nooks and tunnels and things. Good find!

[HStorm]

Cheers, although it's not exactly a 'find' in the way you mean. I lived on the hill opposite to the Roman wall as a kid, and I was aware of the Catacombs long before Knightmare began.