Underground England by Stephen Smith

In this erudite and jovial sequel to Underground London , journalist Stephen Smith takes us on an intimate underground odyssey from the "cave-riddled city" of Nottingham to the Sutton Hoo ship-burial. Smith revels in recounting tales of tunnels forged as "gangways for errant nuns", eerie legends of drowned cities and a rather embarrassing discovery concerning the Burlington cold war shelter. You can almost feel the dank claustrophobia as he endures the perils of "Hell's Mouth" or squeezes into a priest-hole. Florid prose and baffling digressions aside – why he would attempt to link the Hell Fire Caves with Frankie Howerd's hairpiece is anyone's guess – this is an illuminating journey into the heart of the elusive "other England".