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UK bank receives mystery warning from secret society in Hertford
Anonymous caller tells NatWest: ‘there’s a passage beneath your vault’
SECURITY fears have been raised at a Hertford bank following a mysterious warning issued by a man claiming to be a member of a secret society.
An assistant at NatWest in Fore Street was shocked by the anonymous phone call from a man warning of a possible weakness in the bank’s security because of a subterranean passage he claimed runs beneath its vault.
Security experts are being called in to look into the claim and the Mercury has supplied the bank with information from our own investigations into Hertford’s underground tunnel network.
Bank assistant Dawn Wells told the Mercury: “We’ve had a phone call from someone from a secret society telling us about the tunnel under the bank, saying that it could be a security risk if it was brought to light.
“I couldn’t make out clearly who was speaking because his voice was muffled and sounded distant.
“But I have to take this seriously and our security people need to look into it. He also said that his secret society didn’t want it to be publicised.
“I thought it was a crank call, but anything like this has to be looked into and I will be passing all relevant details and what you have given me to our security people. Thank you for your help.”
Tim Acheson, who revealed the possible presence of a labyrinth under Hertford, was baffled by the cryptic call, but he believed it was the work of older members of the Knights Templar, a secret society to which he belongs.
He said: “In the hierarchy of the oldest secret societies there is a conservative element which remains strongly opposed to publicity of any kind. However, in today’s more tolerant climate, many younger initiates no longer see a need for such obsessive secrecy. Thus we were able to help the Mercury with its article about Hertford’s tunnels.
“But it’s entirely possible that the caller has no connection with any of Hertford’s secret societies.”
The NatWest building, which has a large cellar, was the former home of Hertford Literary and Scientific Institute, which eventually moved to Bull Plain.
In 1873 the Renaissance-style building became a branch of the London and County Bank, which later merged with the Westminster Bank to become the NatWest.
SOURCE: Hertfordshire Mercury (UK), "Mystery man alerts bank over security", p 7, 29 October 2004.
Web title: "Tunnel vision puts bank on high alert"
[ http://www.herts-essex-news.co.uk/mercury/news/story.asp?id=165763 ]
Archived: [ http://www.theinsider.org/mailing/article.asp?id=0666 ]
FURTHER READING
Hertfordshire Mercury, "Experts look into Hertford's labyrinth", p 23, 15 October 2004.
[ http://www.herts-essex-news.co.uk/mercury/news/story.asp?id=161472 ]
Archived: [ http://www.theinsider.org/mailing/article.asp?id=0634 ]
Hertfordshire Mercury, 29 October 2004, “‘Society with secrets’ celebrates 175 years”, p 39.
Archived: [ http://www.theinsider.org/mailing/article.asp?id=0669 ]
Hertfordshire Mercury, Letters, 29 October 2004.
[Locals knew of a secret passage, possibly leading from the Priory and under the High Street toward the church, at least 70 years ago:-]
A secret from 1930s Ware
Further to your article regarding secret tunnels in Ware ("Does Ware have its own subterranean secrets?", Mercury, Oct 15), my grandparents and aunt in the late 1930s lived for a time in the Old Forge, which was situated on the site of the present statue of the maltster and his cat.
I remember staying there as a child, and on one occasion I recall playing ball with my cousins in the Forge and eventually losing the ball down a hole in the corner.
My grandparents always believed the whole connected with a secret passage from The Priory to St Mary's Church.
Trevor Chamberlain
Goldings Lane, Waterford
"The Insider" mailing list article, 27 October 2004.
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