Williamson Tunnels

Eccentric 19th-century underground network beneath Edge Hill

Address Smithdown Lane, Liverpool, L7 3EE

A bizarre network of brick-arched tunnels burrowed under the Edge Hill area in the early 1800s by an eccentric tobacco merchant named Joseph Williamson, ostensibly to provide work for soldiers returning from the Napoleonic wars. The full extent of the tunnels is still unknown — the centre is gradually clearing and stabilising more of them.

Two separate volunteer organisations run tours of different sections: the Joseph Williamson Society from Mason Street, and the Williamson Tunnels Heritage Centre on Smithdown Lane. The latter is the more developed visitor experience, with a small museum and short guided walks through cleared sections. Both are atmospheric and unusual.

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A story
Joseph Williamson, the "Mole of Edge Hill," was a wealthy tobacco merchant who spent the last 25 years of his life paying unemployed labourers to dig tunnels beneath his property. No one is sure why — theories range from religious millenarianism to simple charity. The tunnels still bewilder modern archaeologists.

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