Underground England: Travels Beneath Our Cities and Country

by Stephen Smith

Underground England  takes an extraordinary and original look at our island nation—from below. Stephen Smith quite literally delves into the unknown country underneath ploughed fields, cliff tops, and market towns.  Underground England  will explore rudimentary earth dwellings and hidden Cold War cities; sulfurous natural springs and manmade underground waterways; priest holes and subterranean nooks created with more sinister purposes in mind. The author visits the endless military tunnels built below Chatham since the Napoleonic Wars; and the secret labyrinth quarried out under Liverpool by a religious eccentric. He gets into tight spots with speleologists, and gamely ventures down haunted tunnels and into the mythical resting-places of English kings. A fascinating and eye-opening exploration of the world that lies beneath our feet.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, History, British Literature, Archaeology

320 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2009

About the author

Stephen Smith works for Channel 4 news and writes regularly for the LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS

Reviews

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed Smith's Underground London: Travels Beneath the City Streets. Didn't really enjoy this. Smith writes too much about nothing here. In one chapter, he comes across as making fun of a nun - note, I'm saying that is what it looks like, not what he did. BTW, I understand Smith loves his Nana, but please stop talking about her; it really doesn't add anything. There is no real sense of place. I'm sure Smith traveled to write this book; I don't think he is lying. But it sure doesn't feel like he was engaged or even present in some cases. Not when you compare it to the writing in the London book.

If I had read this first, I would have never picked up Underground London. Two stars only because once I dug the mush, I could find a few interesting things.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

There’s some very interesting things within this book. However, there’s a whole lots of meandering around getting to the point and wandering off on other tangents before the interesting bits are got to. With a whole lot of slash and burn from the editor’s pen this would have been a brilliant book. (Though probably about half the size.) I’m sorry to say it just became too tedious and effort to enjoy it.

[Deb Omnivorous Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good; The author (who I had never encountered before) researches and visits a range of hidden weirdness within England. From the foreword which vivid describes the hidden England below ground I was hooked. In rapid succession the author introduces us to avid cavers (extremophile), hidden passages and priest holes, the archaeological delights of Stonehenge and Sutton Hoo and people who live in caves even to the modern day.

There is a lot of information in this book and much of it makes you want to book a plane for England in order to explore some of the strangeness yourself.

The Authors writing style is erudite, intelligent and full of miscellaneous facts, similes and random segues.

It is for the writing style that I have a criticism, I enjoyed it but at the same time it was occasionally hard to follow. The segues at times were so diverting that you lost track of the original narrative and this made it less than an easy read.

The similes and examples... well, I am reasonably well read with a fairly broad interest base and yet I could not always follow the references that the author used as similes. There was at times a dearth of explanation for things that perhaps an Englisher would get but I am not English.

The segues and the similes and the obscurity are why I did not give it four stars and why there are a lot of people who would like the subject matter but to whom I would sadly not be able to recommend it.

[Janet Panter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this would be much more interesting than it actually was. Not as witty as the cover leads you to believe...

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this - it definitely showed a different side (or should that be a different level) to England. Well worth a read!

[Ipswichblade · Rating 1 out of 5]

Having read Stephen Smith's Underground London I was looking forward to this however it is the the worst book I have read this year. Having looked at other peoples reviews on Amazon I am in full agreement. What should be an interesting subject is lost in meaningless text and going off at tangents. Smith seems to spend as much time decribing the people who he meets as much as the the actual underground places. Do I care that Vicky (who is showing Smith around the Mersey Tunnel) is "very scouse, very big hearted"? Also some of the chapters relate to bulidings under the sea which clearly is not undeground. Very poor attempt at covering what is such an interesting subject.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Smith travels the country looking into holes in the ground. He explores Saxon burial grounds and tunnels under cities and even has a go at caving. It's not the greatest of books but Smith presents his adventures with a certain style.

[Kathleen McRae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable read This book contains a lot of history of English sites and the history in that area. It also contains the site as it is today by the authors personal research..Stephan Smith's writing is humorous and well researched

[Dave · Rating 1 out of 5]

A book seems to start nowhere and ends up nowhere. Very disappointed,