COUNTY archaeologists are being called in to investigate the hole that has opened up in Callington's Fore Street which could reveal for the first time whether a tunnel built by prisoners as an escape route from the old jail lies below the surface.

Highway contractors Cormac were called last Tuesday to fill in the 'pot hole' which had appeared in the road near the old jail. But this was put on hold as the hole got bigger and the interesting history of the area became apparent.

Traffic lights were erected and the hole has been covered with a steel plate while the town waits with bated breath to see what lies beneath.

Town councillor Jeremy Gist said it was exciting: 'There could quite possibly be a type of man-made tunnel there.

'As a child I remember being told that these tunnels existed and it goes to prove that there is a lot of sense in the tales that went around. We could have "Time Team" here yet.'

Mr Gist said it could be that the tunnels were meant to be there for taking prisoners in and out the jail to avoid lynch mobs or as a quick getaway for magistrates after they had issued their sentence.

'Maybe they lead to the church and the vicar could get out if his sermons weren't well received or maybe they are much older and part of some ancient burial chamber,' he said.

It is rumoured that the tunnel leads to the car park of the public house across the road which used to share its name with the jail, 'The Old Clink', before it became The Phoenix in recent years.

The Old Clink or lock-up, which has recently undergone a renovation and is now rented out for office use, was built in 1851 and had two cells for drunks and vagrants on the ground floor.

The upper floor was used as the vestry room where the relieving officers, together with the parish overseers, presided over payment of poor relief to the poor of the parish. By 1866 the old clink had been replaced by a police station in Tavistock Road.

Callington historian Sheila Lightbody said it was much more likely that this hole led to a cellar for one of the many businesses that used to be in that area:

'The legend of the tunnel has never been proved,' she said. 'The people who used to own the Phoenix had a wonderful story about people being tried and hung in their backyard but there is nothing to say this happened either.

'We found evidence of open cellars just around the corner and that is the oldest part of the town, so it is likely to be that.'