On the surface, McAshton land looks like any other Small Town, Scotland. Their graveyard is still relatively far from any local centers of anything, the people know each other and are resistant of foreigners to the degree expected of small towns anywhere (at least the kids are, led by the two grandsons of the local lord). There are also small groups of people who are afraid to make themselves known to the main population, symbolized by the nuclear Sackville-Bagg family and an experience I am well acquainted with.
But the Sackville-Baggs know something few others in this small little hamlet do: there is an elaborate tunnel network crisscrossing McAshtonland and invisible to those who don't know where to look or simply don't care to. They know this because they have made a large, elaborate chamber underneath the local graveyard their home and have been there for an unspecified time period. The Sackville-Bagg children bring Tony into this world in the midst of their quest for the Stone of Attamon, and in the process they discover a tunnel or series of tunnels which links the chamber under the cemetery with Von and Elizabeth's unmarked grave and the McAshton mausoleum, which comes equipped with a secret door leading to this network.
Secret passages to various places are not uncommon. They appear in very old castles, from the time when whispers in dark corners led to poisonings and the need for quick escapes. There is a notable passage in the Vatican which leads from the Papal apartments to a safe haven only a short walk away. Scotland historically has the added societal element of prolonged war with England and general conflict with prospective invaders. Therefore, having a network of tunnels and passages going back and forth under a seaside town makes for great places to set up ambushes or smuggle out prisoners or other such similar operations. Also, McAshtonland is home to a family or large group of vampire hunters, who, if they didn't build the tunnels to hide their vampire kills in, saw that use in a pre-existing structure.
There is no direct proof that links the chamber in the graveyard to Von's unmarked grave except for Tony's statement that "We must be near the cemetery", and the fact that this is one of the only underground chambers that's shown to have a way topside. It took a great deal of time for the kids to find Von's grave, so it's very unlikely that they would take all that time, turn around, and go back to the mausoleum, rather than just take the tunnel system back to the cemetery (parts of which are clearly seen behind Rookery as he's filling the ground with holes) and fly out through the family crypt, which is clearly less time consuming at that particular instant.
We don't see very much of the underground world of McAshtonland, courtesy of time constraints and the protagonist being a human being brought into the world of vampires, but the existence of what we do see implies the rest of it. And to be honest, underground worlds, secret societies, and all related aspects of the world are absolutely fascinating.
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