ALICE in Wonderland may be one of the most magical worksof children's fiction , but new research suggests its origins were mostmundane. Lewis Carroll's timeless tale of the girl who tumbles into anotherdimension through a rabbit hole is beloved by millions of people the worldover. But the inspiration for the classic tale is now thought to have beenmuch closer to reality, and can be explained by simple subsidence. Naturalgeological events, in particular gypsum subsidence between Darlington andRipon, have been put forward as the stimulus for Alice's underground adventures.

Carroll - real name Charles Dodgson - spent his earlydays at Croft, near Darlington, where his father was rector, and nearbyare a trio of ponds, called Hell's Kettles. Although only 22ft deep, formany years they were thought to be bottomless and the young Carroll wouldhave been familiar with them.

The family later moved to Ripon, where subsidence causedby gypsum has long been a problem, causing sudden holes to appear in theground. The most recent was only two years ago, destroying four garagesand leading to the evacuation of several houses, including Ure Lodge. Thelatter was once the home of Mary Badcock, photographs of whom were usedby Sir John Tenniel for the illustrations of the first edition of Alicein Wonderland.

Scientist Dr Tony Cooper of the British Geological Surveyhighlighted the connections at the British Association's science festivalin Sheffield. "Lewis Carroll was almost certainly aware of the problems,"said Dr Cooper. "He would have seen the collapses in his friends' gardensand the numerous collapses in the field opposite Ure Lodge." Initially,Carroll even called his story Alice's Adventures Underground, althoughby the time it was published in 1865 it had been renamed Alice's Adventuresin Wonderland.