Home With 20-Year Underground Tunnel Network Lists for £300,000

A home in Reading, England, featuring an extensive network of underground tunnels hand-dug over two decades by a previous owner, has gone on the market for £300,000.

Tony Deane, a civil engineer, spent 20 years creating the subterranean complex, which extends more than 15 meters below ground and encompasses over 1,300 square feet of space. The network includes multiple rooms, corridors, storage areas, and even a hand-built railway. One room is accessible through a secret entrance hidden within a rocket ship beside the property's swimming pool.

Deane, who initially worked in airport infrastructure construction, began the project in the 1980s and 1990s, with assistance from his six children. The excavation and transport of chalk were managed using only buckets and wheelbarrows. The family also constructed a one-tonne goods lift and two secret doors, including one concealed by a 1.5-tonne sliding concrete wall.

Richard Worrall, an auctioneer and consultant at BTG Eddisons Property Auctions, described the property as unique and an “amazing feat” as a family project. The underground construction utilized chalk, which is self-supporting, with structural concrete added where necessary and cast by hand. The property also includes a secure gated driveway, a 2,500-square-foot workshop over three floors, parking, gardens, and a swimming pool with changing rooms.

Planning permission has been granted for a five-bedroom house to be built on the site of the swimming pool, and for the workshop to be converted into a three-bedroom house. Worrall suggested the underground space could have various potential uses, such as secure storage, a fallout shelter, an EMP-resistant data center, or a "prepper's paradise."

The property is listed with a guide price of £300,000-£325,000 and is set to be included in BTG Eddisons Property Auctions' live stream auction in October.