WORKERS digging near almshouses have discovered what is thought to have been a hiding place for 17th Century priests.
While digging a trench to repair the drains at Sir William Turner's Hospital, in Kirkleatham, the workers came across large slabs of sandstone.
Further investigations revealed a man-sized chamber only half a metre beneath the surface of a road.
A tunnel leads from it towards one of the mini-castles at the 325-year-old almshouses.
A spokesman for Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council said: "It looks just the sort of thing to be a hiding place for a priest."
Similar holes were created to hide Catholic priests when it was illegal to support the Catholic Church during the 16th and 17th Centuries.
However, John Wade, of ADG, the Darlington architects renovating the site, offered an alternative view.
He said: "I think what we have discovered is part of the drainage system.
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