Tony Deane, a civil engineer from Tilehurst in Reading, spent over 20 years hand-digging an extensive tunnel network beneath his family home using only basic tools like buckets and wheelbarrows. The project began in the 1980s and expanded over time to include more than 1,300 square feet of underground space spread across four levels, reaching depths of more than 15 meters below ground.
The tunnel system includes remarkable engineering features constructed entirely by hand. According to both the Reading Chronicle and AOL reports, Deane built a railway through the tunnels to transport excavated chalk, as well as a four-layer, one-tonne goods lift capable of carrying materials to ground level. Access to the network is concealed through multiple secret entrances, including one hidden inside a 23-foot-tall rocket positioned by the swimming pool and another behind a 1.5-tonne sliding concrete wall.
While the tunnel network represents a significant personal achievement, its existence remained largely unknown outside the Deane family for decades, including to neighbors in the surrounding residential area. Richard Worrall, auctioneer and consultant at BTG Eddisons Property Auctions, noted that despite its scale, the project's clandestine nature means potential buyers would need to consider various factors - from the structural integrity of hand-dug tunnels through chalk to the practical applications of such space, which Worrall suggested could range from secure storage and fallout shelters to unconventional uses like EMP-resistant data centers. The property also includes planning consent for a new 5,000 sq ft, five-bedroom house to be built on the site of the existing swimming pool, indicating the underground network could be preserved beneath new construction.