Lanes finds Liverpool’s lost underground tunnels

Loss of track ballast and a hole in rail sidings at Liverpool prompted contractor Amalgamated Construction Ltd (Amco) to call in Lanes, with its sophisticated remote control cameras, to get to the bottom of the problem.

Once inside the void, the camera equipment revealed a labyrinth of underground tunnels.

Matt Mulheran of Lanes, said: “We were shocked to find a tunnel that was approximately two-metres high, and a metre wide. It extended for five-metres or so in each direction before reaching a point where it had been blocked up with rubble.

“It was not until later that I found out the origins of this tunnel, and the many others like it which stretch for miles around the Edge Hill area.

“They were the creation of Joseph Williamson, an eccentric philanthropist, wealthy businessman and property owner in the 1800s. His commercial success earned him the name ‘The King of Edge Hill’, whilst his tunnel building brought him the moniker, ‘The Mad Mole’.

“It seems Joseph was secretive about his motives for building the tunnels, which led to speculation about extremist religious sects and suggestions that, fearing the end of the world, he had had them constructed for himself and his family.”

But it appears his motives were entirely charitable.

Having bought an area of land, he began to build houses. That done, he continued to employ his workmen, and recruited more, to perform tasks, some of which appeared to be pointless, such as moving materials from one place to another and back again — and to build a network of underground halls and brick-arched tunnels.

“He wanted to provide the unemployed with work. In his words, ‘so that they received a weekly wage and were thus enabled to enjoy the blessings of charity without the attendant curse of stifled self-respect”, so he set them to work digging tunnels,” explained Matt.

Lawrence Longthorne, Construction Manager at Amco, added that the tunnels were dug out of the bedrock: “Apparently there are many miles of similar tunnels around the area— even a room known as ‘the banqueting hall’ which is 21-metres long. It must have been really hard graft for the men.”

Despite the interesting story, Amco still had to find a solution to the immediate tunnel problem.

“It was quite straightforward. We used concrete mixed with foaming additive and poured it into the tunnel using a sidewinder pump to fill the void completely,” said Lawrence.

“I’m sure it was a lot less back-breaking filling in the tunnel than digging it!”