The Stilton Tunnels

The Stilton Tunnels Public House was in what were the former stables for The Angel Inn. The Angel was the biggest inn in the village extending to the corner of Church Street and 3 storeys high
In 1743, when the restrictions on the sale of un pressed cream cheese had been lifted, Cooper Thornhill purchased the Angel Inn and he commissioned the construction of a series of vaults under this inn for the storage and maturing of his famous Stilton cheese. These damp vaults situated on the edge of the Fen were ideal for cheese to develop blue mould.

For years it was disputed that there were a series of underground tunnels, some believing and others saying that they were only for drainage or were just large cellars. Those who did believe there was a tunnel network thought they could have been used for smuggling liquor or guns, hiding outlaws such as Dick Turpin, or even allowing people to go from one part of the village to another as a matter of convenience or perhaps secrecy.
One particular story has it that there was once a monastery west of the village, in what is now an open field near Caldecote Hill, and one of the tunnels led from the monastery into the village. The monks used this tunnel to get to the village in inclement weather and when they wanted a secret tipple in the cellars of one of the many inns at the time. There are ruined foundations in that field but no proof that it was a monastery but one of the tunnels under the building does go in that direction.
From the location of the tunnels and the apparent angles, one could easily imagine them stretching the length of the village. Being between four and five metres wide, approximately four metres high, that it was only for drainage seems highly unlikely.