In February 2025, a huge sinkhole appeared in the main street of a Surrey village. People living close to Godstone High Street were aroused from their beds by police, who told them to grab what necessities they could and to get out of their homes as quickly as possible. They soon discovered that a huge and ever-increasing sinkhole had appeared in the main street, and it was perfectly possible that their houses would be gobbled up by this monstrous chasm. Over the next days, it continued to expand, in both surface area and depth, eventually becoming about twenty metres in length and indeterminate and ever-increasing depth!
There were many theories expounded, especially by the older citizens, who had grown up in the area and heard many tales of subterranean mining activities as far back as Victorian times. Apparently, this area of the North Downs had been a rich source of stone and sand, which was used in the building of a great many imposing London buildings.
Subsequent investigation by various penetrative means has revealed a maze of sand mining tunnels under this whole area, as shown in this BBC News article. The most recent forecast for a return to normality is March 2026.
Having told this rather alarming tale I will explain why it is of particular interest to me.
From 1963 and for the next 25 years I was employed by Surrey County Council as driver of a Mobile Library. In the execution of my duties, I would have driven this 26-foot-long and 8-foot-wide vehicle thousands of times over this section of road. In fact, for eight of those years, the vehicle was garaged a few hundred yards away from the site of this occurrence. To quote Dougal in The Magic Roundabout: “I might have been on that!”