into another great vault,
which I shall presently describe. The passage is very dry, but the air
has a cold "gravey" taint, very unpleasant to inhale. At the second
landing there is a sort of recess, into which rubbish from the garden
above is shot down through a spout or funnel. At the top of the passage
is a doorway opening upon the back of a house in Mason-street. This
passage or tunnel was evidently intended for a mode of communication
between the house and the orchard. In the garden or orchard, and near
the tunnel mouth, were four lofty recesses, like alcoves, three of which
were four feet deep. In one of those recesses, which was carried much
further back than the others, the stones were lying as they fell, and
there was a channel on one side of the flooring which seemed to have been
intended for a drain. Through a large folding gate access is obtained
from Smithdown-lane into a wide passage or vault, in shape like a
seaman's speaking trumpet. It is broad enough to accommodate two carts
at least, and has been used when the stone has been carted away from the
delph at its eastern end. This vault is constructed of brick. It
gradually deepens at the eastern end, and is about 15 feet wide, and 20
high. At the opening it is not more than 15 high. The top outside is
covered by soil, and forms part of the garden previously mentioned. At
the left hand side of the tunnel end will be found a vault, running
northward for about fifty or sixty feet. The end of this vault is the
limit of Mr. Williamson's property. The tunnel already described as
running up to Mason-street crosses the top of this vault. This vault is
about thirty-six feet wide and perhaps thirty feet high, but the floor
has been considerably raised since Mr. Williamson's time by debris and
rubbish of all sorts thrown into it. In the right hand corner of the
vault, about ten feet from the ground, there is the mouth of a tunnel
which runs up first towards Mason-street, it then turns and winds in a
variety of ways in passages continuing under the houses in Mason-street,
and opening upon many of the vaults. To the left of the entrance vault,
there is a large square area from which immense masses of red sandstone
have been quarried. It is forty feet from side to side. There is a
vault in the southern wall opposite the wall just described. It runs
towards Grinfield-street, and is composed of two large arches side by
side, surmounted by two smaller