page_title: Williamson Tunnels
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Williamson Tunnels / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Members of Friends Of Williamson's Tunnels digging through spoil in a newly-discovered chamber, May 2019. Photo: Kyle May, Friends Of Williamson's Tunnels
context_page_description: The Williamson Tunnels are a series of extensive subterranean excavations, of unknown purpose, 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 excavation continues as volunteers continue to uncover new sections.
context_section_description: 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. 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.
  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", including a "fearful opening" beneath Grinfield Street with two "complete four-roomed houses" in the side of it connected by a spiral passage. This apparent tunnel-building activity continued until Williamson's death in 1840. 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 15 feet (5 m) 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.
caption: FoWT volunteers digging in a newly-discovered section of tunnel, May 2019.
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