An Englishman has discovered numerous passageways hidden behind a bookshelf in his 500-year-old Sussex family home and he believes that they once even extended to nearby buildings and a church.

Newsflash spoke to Freddy Goodall, 23, in an exclusive interview after he shared videos of his discovery on TikTok and Instagram, and he said that he had been “looking through photos of the house from the 1800s when I noticed a doorway.”

Freddy added: “I searched for the door and found a small hole that looked into the hidden room.”

The hidden room connected to passageways running under house and they also led to unused rooms full of cobwebs.

Speculating about their original use, he said he believed that they had been used “many years ago for servants to pass from their quarters into the main house.”

It was once not uncommon for houses to boast secret passages for the servants and other staff to use, as they were often not allowed to use ‘official’ corridors and staircases.

The passageways are extensive and Freddy said: “The passageways run all the way from one end of the house to the other.

“When the passageways were in use I believe there were some running miles underground to nearby buildings and a church.”

He said that he found numerous artefacts while exploring the passageways, saying: “I found a safe containing old historical documentation relating to the house. I have found other artefacts including old books from when the house was a school. I will look for new things in the future.”

Describing the contents of the safe, Freddie said he had found documents from 1848, adding: “I mainly found books containing information on the history of the house. I also found a letter written from the owner of Castle Ashby while visiting the house.”

The house is about 500 years old but Freddy said that his “family bought the house and renovated it around 30 years ago.”

Freddie, who works as a property developer said that he grew up around people in the property industry, adding: “This gave me an interest and enthusiasm for development.”

The house was once used as a school and Freddy suspects that mischievous pupils may have snuck down into the passageways. He said: “I would imagine they were used for maintenance purposes although I found many names inscribed into the wall that looked like school pupils that snuck down there.”