What is secret of Bideford tunnel - 1975

A mystery that has intrigued generations of Bidefordians may be solved early in the New Year when an opening is made in the bricked-up wall of a cellar at Ford House, the oldest house in the town and possibly in North Devon and once owned by Sir Richard Grenville's family. Tradition has it that a smugglers' tunnel runs from the cellar several miles westward to Abbotsham cliffs. Even if no tunnel is found the existence of a big man-made cave as a secret hiding place is a near certainty. The house stands at a strategic position on the west side of the ford from which Bideford is reputed to get its name and could well have been used by smugglers at periods during its long history. Mr and Mrs Frederick Eccles, who have lived at Ford House for the past two and a half years and are continuing its careful restoration, plan early in 1976 to find out what lies beyond the bricked-up wall on the westward side of the cellar, which is underneath their sitting room next to the Torrington road. "In our time here we have heard so much about this tunnel and different stories about it, that to satisfy ourselves and many others interested we have decided to open it up," Mrs Phyllis Eccles told the Gazette. From their researched it seems that the tunnel was blocked up in the first 20 years of this century. The late Mr E J Ashplant, who lived in the house when it was attached to a farm, is reported to have explored the tunnel to a pont where lack of oxygen put out a candle. Whether the existence of a long tunnel towards the coast is folk-lore or fact, Mrs Eccles things that disused old farm implements and machinery may well have been stored in the tunnel, "These would prove interesting, but the possibility of something even more exciting is tantalising," she said. Mrs Eccles said she has not seen or heard any ghost or such like, but both she and others have sensed that in one bedroom there can be a strange atmosphere or 'presence'. She herself finds it "friendly, not nasty" but has not been able to pin it down to anything specific. When, around 700 years ago, attempts were being made to build the first Bideford bridge legend has it that angels rolled the foundation stones nightly away from the ford to the site where the bridge now stands. The early bridge builders took the hint and changed the site. During this episode, so it was said, the 'strong armed angels' were reported to have been seen on the roof of Ford House. Probably a dwelling has existed on the spot for 1,000 years but is is believed the first part of the existing house was built in 1338 or thereabouts. An engraving in one of the enormously thick walls shows that the original building was added to in 1756, and there must havae been other alterations prior to that and since. Nikolaus Pevsner in his 'Buildings of England' series, described the house as a 'much altered medieval' farmhouse of stone with a Great Hall and screen and the remains of the original roof, and also having an oridinal barn.