So today I wanted to finally discover a ‘tunnel’. I put the word Tunnel in the inverted commas due to the nature of the word. For me a tunnel can be many things but it is a passageway which takes one from A to B. As for Tunnels in Worcester this is a Myth a Urban Legend that has manifested from the development of rumours and exaggerations.To hit the Nail on the head i visited the Cathedral to find out once and for all if this was a real thing, ‘The Tunnel’. Speaking with a historian at the Cathedral I found that this is a common legend that arises from anywhere in England that has historic monumental buildings such as Worcester’s Cathedral, leading it to become a traditional occurrence throughout historic cities in England.
According to the historian many castles had tunnels in medieval Britain to aid the escape past a mout but this is as far as the idea of a tunnel goes. But what is interesting is the occurrence of what they call under crofts. Under crofts do lead outside like a tunnel but are more like cellars and where used as storage. The monks who used the Cathedral originally used to use a undercroft known as the Cathedral Crypt as a space of worship. A great sentiment stated by the Historian was that he could imagine ‘the Cathedral rising above them while they prayed bellow’.
Here are some examples of entrances to undercrofts found in the Cathedral:
The way in which they lead outside can lead to the idea of a tunnel.
Here are some images of the Cathedral Crypt:
The mind I suppose can create some ideas that possibly due to the vastness of the building and these under crofts that it would be possible to build tunnels going somewhere from ridiculous lengths.
Here is another example of a underground space found in a book called The Story of Worcester by Pat Hughes and Annette Leech.
This underground space was pictured in Worcester but no body knows the location of its existence and it is things like this that really reinforce the idea that something is there when it really isn’t. This is also helped by King Charles I escaping past the city walls.
I started this study not knowing if there was or wasn’t tunnels but the very fact there isn’t gives me so much more than if there was. For me there is a Paradox right here right under my feet! and now it is my job as an artist to find this tunnel in a Paradoxical sense.
So lets look at what I have!
When you look at this in terms of a Paradox what is it?
Liars Paradox?
-a statement or proposition which, despite sound (or apparently sound) reasoning from acceptable premises, leads to a conclusion that seems logically unacceptable or self-contradictory.
There is a tunnel that is five miles long leading from the Cathedral.
I have found the above to be untrue BUT seems reasonable due to the following.
- Charles I escaped the city unseen.
- The roads are uneven in Worcester
- Worcester has one of the oldest churches in the county
- seemingly strange entrances that we cannot gain access too.
A crypt and or cellar has the aspects of a tunnel. it is underground, you can hide in them. they usually have a A to B (inside to outside).
But a tunnel 5 miles long imagine how they would do that in medieval England, how would they know where they were going? its just not feasible. It is Logically unacceptable. What is true is that there are underground crypts and cellars and crofts.
So maybe I am interested in the Paradox created by a Myth or Legend because at the end of the day a urban legend sounds like a liars Paradox to me.
Urban legend – a humorous or horrific story or piece of information circulated as though true.
Maybe I am interested in a Box and especially that of Strodinger’s cat. Finding out the truth behind the story. Maybe there isn’t any truth but what we do find is a paradoxical box or something that contradicts itself.
Yes this means I am abandoning the Idea of a documentary but that does not mean I am abandoning the Idea of a film.
No the Idea of a Urban legend does not quite fit in the realms of a Paradox but the contradiction of these Myths or stories do.
It is time for me to tie down my study and really find out what I am interested in and that is of a Paradox, quantum theory and contradictory themes, pushing my practice further from last year down the lines of the incongruous….
