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Construction crews on Albert Street have unearthed a mysterious opening that may be the entrance to a long-rumoured “beer tunnel” that has beguiled Ottawa’s historians for years.

Now those same historians are worried that the current sewer work could destroy an important part of the city’s heritage.

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It’s “a piece of Ottawa history that’s being torn apart,” said Andrew King, an Ottawa artist and amateur historian who has researched the tunnels.

Photos taken by the City of Ottawa were posted Wednesday on Ottawa’s West Side Action, a blog on urban development issues by activist Eric Darwin. The photos show a concrete tunnel full of water with an entrance sloping down into the ground.

It could be one of two tunnels rumoured to exist near LeBreton Flats, which was the site of Ottawa’s main trainyard until the mid-60s.

In the 1940s a major brewing operation, Brading’s Capital Brewery Ltd., straddled what is now Albert Street.