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In early March 2017, multiple outlets covered the purported discovery of Knights Templar caves they suggested were found down a rabbit hole in the western England county of Shropshire: The BBC reported that the mystery caves were discovered down a rabbit hole, hinting that the caves were a brand-new and unexpected discovery: Buried at the very end of the BBC's article was an indication that the caves were not actually a new discovery, saying that they were reportedly sealed up in 2012 in a bid to keep away vandals. Extensive documentation of the caves appear on the internet, with one series of images taken by a visitor in 2009. A network of Shropshire caves (including the new discovery) were examined in the 2002 book Subterranean Shropshire. Some outlets covered issues with trespassing that led to the closure of the caves in 2012, then again reported them as a new find in 2017. The 2012 stories noted that the caves were likely created as a Victorian-era folly, and didn't tack on the connection to the Knights Templar (a Christian military order active between 1129 and 1312) for another few years. The Birmingham Mail took an extra step of replacing its 2012 coverage with the more mysterious 2017 version (archives remained), but other outlets did not. That general description was repeated on an undated ShropshireHistory.com page, which says that the caves were a Victorian-era creation: Although the caves were reported as a new find in 2017, they were not new, not secret, and not widely thought to be more than a couple of centuries old.
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