The Williamson Tunnels are a series of extensive subterranean excavations in the Edge Hill area of Liverpool, England. They are thought to have been created under the direction of tobacco merchant, landowner and philanthropist Joseph Williamson between 1810 and 1840. Although popularly described as "tunnels", the majority comprise brick or stone vaulting over excavations in the underlying sandstone. The purpose of the works remains unclear and remains a subject of heavy speculation; suggestions include commercial quarrying, a philanthropic desire to provide employment, and Williamson's own eccentric interests.
After being gradually infilled with rubble and spoil during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, they remained largely inaccessible until archaeological investigations were carried out in 1995. Since then volunteers have rediscovered and excavated an extensive network of tunnels, chambers and voids across several sites, with sections open to the public. Guided tours are available at the Williamson Tunnels Heritage Centre and the Friends of Williamson's Tunnels, and volunteers continue to uncover new sections.
History In 1805, wealthy businessman Joseph Williamson acquired an area of land in Mason Street, Edge Hill, Liverpool, which was then a largely undeveloped outcrop of sandstone with a scattering of scars from small-scale quarrying. The land was held under a lease from the West Derby Waste Commissioners, who retained rights to the minerals under it: Williamson started to build houses on the site, which then adjoined growing and fashionable areas of Liverpool.
According to the account of a 19th-century Liverpool antiquarian, James Stonehouse, these houses were eccentric in design and "of the strangest description" without any rational plans. The ground behind them dropped sharply, and in order to provide large gardens Williamson built arched terraces over which the gardens could be extended. He continued to erect and alter many further buildings on the site during the period, including a large house in Mason Street occupied by himself and his wife.Hand, C. R. ( 1928), 88. In the 20th century this house was numbered 44. To carry out the work he recruited a large pool of labour from among the poor and needy of the area, including soldiers left unemployed at the end of the Napoleonic War; according to Stonehouse, he occasionally engaged them to carry out apparently pointless tasks, such as moving rubble from one place to another, then back again.Stonehouse, in Hand, C. R. (1916), 14
Over the same period, his workers also excavated a series of brick-arched tunnels and vaults at various depths within the sandstone. They covered a wide area, extending to the boundaries of Williamson's lease and possibly beyond. Stonehouse, who traversed parts of the tunnels in 1845, described the excavations as a labyrinth of "vaulted passages [...] pits deep, and yawning chasms",Stonehouse, in Hand, C. R. (1916), 6 including a "fearful opening" beneath Grinfield Street with two "complete four-roomed houses" in the side of it connected by a spiral passage.Stonehouse, in Hand, C. R. (1916), 7 This apparent tunnel-building activity continued until Williamson's death in 1840.Murden, Jon, 'Williamson, Joseph (1769-1840)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, online edn, October 2006 , accessed 30 July 2008. In August 1867 the Liverpool Porcupine described the tunnels as being "a great nuisance" because drains ran straight into them, in one place creating a cess pool full of offensive water deep, and they were being used for dumping refuse, including down chutes built into the buildings above for the purpose.
In the later 19th century the Corporation of Liverpool began backfilling the tunnels with rubble and other waste from building demolition, a process that continued sporadically into the 20th century. Little information about the excavations had been recorded and nearly all knowledge of them, and of Williamson's life in general, was derived from the 1845 account of James Stonehouse. Although not published at the time it was written, it was referenced in Stonehouse's later works and was finally reprinted in full by Charles Hand as part of a 1916 article, "Joseph Williamson, the King of Edge Hill", published in the Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Historical Society. Hand's work saw a brief revival of interest in Williamson and his life.
Early investigations and archaeology In 1881, the North Staffordshire Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers conducted a field trip to Liverpool during which they surveyed some of the surviving excavations, producing a plan and dog-leg section of the main parts of the site.Lucas, Bridson and Jones (2014) "Williamson Tunnels, Edge Hill, Liverpool: an example of Georgian and early Victorian quarry restoration" in Hunger, Brown and Lucas (eds) Proceedings of the 17th Extractive Industry Geology Conference, EIG, p.11
In the early 20th century, soldiers from the 1st Lancashire Engineers and the West Lancashire Territorial Forces Association, whose drill hall in Mason Street stood on top of one of the tunnels, carried out additional surveys. The Association produced a map of the excavations although, as many were filled with rubble, this had to be left incomplete. The map also showed the course of the London and North Western Railway cutting between Edge Hill and Lime Street stations which ran through the area.
Public interest in the tunnels waned through much of the 20th century and many of the sites were further buried or destroyed by new construction. However, from the 1980s onwards interest in Williamson steadily increased, leading to the formation of the two major societies and, eventually, excavation of tunnels across several sites. In 1995 a geology student from Liverpool University carried out a micro-gravity survey of the site. Some of his findings were ambiguous, perhaps due to rubble infill, and not all of them seemed to correspond with those of the Forces Association's 1907 map. Later that year a professional firm, Parkman, carried out a survey on behalf of the Joseph Williamson Society.
Both societies eventually acquired the rights to begin digging, and over time a considerable portion of Williamson's legacy has been rediscovered and cleared of the last two centuries' accumulated spoil and rubble. In the course of excavation, a substantial number of artefacts have been found – some dating back as far as the 1830s – including bottles, plates and other crockery, pipes, vintage signs, military items and other items, much of which was probably refuse dumped in the tunnels. Many of these finds have been cleaned and put on display.
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] }The known tunnels are in an area to the east of the Roman Catholic Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral in a rectangle bordered by Mason Street, Grinfield Street, Smithdown Lane and Paddington. Their full extent is unknown and many are still blocked by rubble. They encompass a range of designs and sizes, from vast chambers to spaces inaccessible by an average human. The "Banqueting Hall" is around long and up to high, while the largest "Paddington" chamber is shorter but an impressive deep. Still larger excavations, such as the vaulted "Great Tunnel" seen by James Stonehouse and Charles HandHand, C. R. (1927), 89 and noted on the Army surveys, have yet to be rediscovered.
Purpose of the tunnels The purpose of the excavations has been the subject of widespread speculation. According to Stonehouse's near-contemporary account, Williamson was secretive about his motives, leading to a great deal of speculative local folklore. Upon hearing that Stonehouse planned to publish his research on Williamson's excavations, Williamson's friend, the artist Cornelius Henderson, threatened to sue Stonehouse both for libel and trespass, leading to the paper's suppression for some years.Hand, C. R. (1916), 3
The most commonly related explanation is that they were a philanthropic endeavour. Williamson's own explanation was reputed to be that his motive was "the employment of the poor"; his workers "all received a weekly wage and were thus enabled to enjoy the blessing of charity without the attendant curse of stifled self respect".Quoted in Certain features of the tunnels appear to support this theory; there are many architectural features that seem unnecessarily decorative, hidden deep below the ground in chambers that would likely have been dimly lit and rarely seen. By way of example, at the Mason Street site a beautifully-constructed stone arch was recently uncovered in an otherwise plainly-constructed side chamber, deep underground, with no obvious explanation for its purpose. These features could be interpreted as Williamson helping his employees improve their skills.
Another suggestion, that he was a member of an extremist religious sect fearing that the end of the world was near and that the tunnels were built to provide refuge for him and his friends, originated in recent times with a casual suggestion made on a television programme.The lost tunnels buried deep beneath the UK, BBC, 03-09-15; "Apparently, someone once made the suggestion casually on television, and the idea since stuck [...] “Total guff,” he says, chuckling. “He was quite a devout Christian and a Church of England member.” No evidence has been found to support the existence of such a sect or that Williamson, a practising member of the Church of England, belonged to one.
Stonehouse and Hand both felt the excavations were simply the largely purposeless folly of an eccentric man. However, while Stonehouse called the works "stupendously useless", Hand concluded that Williamson's philanthropic purpose was a noble one and felt he "should have been both pleased and proud to have known him."Hand, C. R. (1929) 101-102 Many of Williamson's workers were said to have later found employment in railway construction with the skills they had learned.
More recent research by academics at Edge Hill University has concluded that the 'tunnels' were in fact the result of work by Williamson to restore ground levels after quarrying.Speed, "Williamson Tunnels – are they really quarries?", Edge Hill University, 6-08-12 Most of the excavations are directly within a band of high-quality sandstone and show clear signs of having been carried out using established quarrying techniques designed to produce single large pieces of stone suitable for building use.Lucas, Bridson and Jones (2014) "Williamson Tunnels, Edge Hill, Liverpool: an example of Georgian and early Victorian quarry restoration" in Hunger, Brown and Lucas (eds) Proceedings of the 17th Extractive Industry Geology Conference, EIG, p.13 In addition, the cross-sections of the works produced by the 1881 survey reveal a typical stone quarry profile. The apparently aimless nature of the excavations was likely a reflection of the work following the best "seam" of stone, avoiding imperfections and master joints. The tunnels had, therefore, originally been unregulated "slot quarries" for sandstone, used for prestige buildings in the rapidly-expanding Liverpool of the Georgian era, and by subsequently vaulting them over Williamson was able to restore ground levels, facilitating his extensive housing developments on the site.