# The Williamson Tunnels, Liverpool, UK.



## Timeshifter (Sep 14, 2020)

The Williamson Tunnels: Edge Hill, Liverpool UK.










I came across this recently whilst looking around for other curiosities in my favourite city, Liverpool on the UK.

It is taught as fact that these were all built to give workers some work, or because Joseph Williamson was eccentric!

After reading briefly, I thought, come one, built for no reason? So I had to look further.

According to waki: Image below: 'The "banqueting hall", which is about 70 feet (21 m) long, between 20 feet (6 m) and 25 feet (8 m) wide and 20 feet (6 m) high'





That is some construction for the sake of it... 10 to 15 metres underground too...

Wiki, the ‘friends of Williamson’ website, and any other source claims that Williamson perhaps built these tunnels as a means to offering employment to the out of work of the Edge Hill area of the city, post the Napoleonic wars, or simply because  he was eccentric (They've no idea)

So a self-made millionaire (Tobacco) buys a plot of land, builds some houses on it, then quarries it out and builds tunnels, chambers and banquet halls, just to give the local populous work? For 30 years he built away down there, but no one knows why? Give me a break. Look at the details in the buildings, these were built to be lived in, not simply made for the sake of it and to be filled in.

However, using the ‘not knowing why’ narrative certainly is an easy cover story to use, after all, is who doesn’t love a mystery, and it adds to the appeal of the tunnels.
The official line is no one knows why he did this? They know who he is, what he is worth, the houses he has built, but no one knows why he built these tunnels?

Friends of WT

Waki

Let us look at Joseph Williamson:

The Mole of Edge Hill, or the King of edge Hill, born 1759 and dies 1840. Even his history is a mystery, born in Warrington, oh no, after some more research, actually he was born in Barnsley, Yorkshire (still debated) He had a bit of luck in business and this allowed him to buy a plot of land in Edge Hill, Liverpool. He built some houses and landscaped the land, and for no apparent reason dug miles of tunnels beneath it.  After his wife dies he becomes more eccentric. He meets George Stephenson who was building the extension of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway from Edge Hill to Lime Street stations and whose own excavations passed through those of Williamson.

Even his Portrait may not even be him according to the FOW website...





Joseph Williamson?​
That is pretty much it for waki and the FOW website FOW

Joseph Williamson Waki

Further investigation brings up the same info. It seems very little is known about this highly successful and wealthy business man… In fact, it seems without the writings of James Stonehouse, it seems even less would be known about Williamson and the tunnels.

Who was James Stonehouse?

I could find very Little about this guy, other than he was the author of this book 'The streets of Liverpool' book which celebrated the achievements of Williamson. Other than this, the guy is a ghost...

On the Fiends of Williamson website they state about Stonehouse:

'Reading Stonehouse’s writings on the tunnels with the benefit of modern research, it is clear that in a small number of instances he makes factual errors. Equally, a few of his notes appear the subject of slight exaggeration (though this is difficult to prove)'

Fabrication

I am beginning to believe this whole story and its characters are fabricated...

So according to the official narrative, from 1840 after Williamson's death, the 'Tunnels' were filled in and forgotten. Until the early 1900's when some mining surveys were done and produced some maps of part of the site, the and then some military investigations which discovered some tunnels, and then the 'association?' in 1907 produced some incomplete maps due to back fill, then no further investigation of interest until 1995 when a  student from Liverpool University carried out a micro-gravity survey of the site. Interesting, why this survey on this site? Link to paper The narrative of this paper places the tunnels firmly 150 years old.

Micro Gravity: *Gravimetry* is the measurement of the strength of a gravitational field. Gravimetry may be used when either the magnitude of gravitational field or the properties of matter responsible for its creation are of interest. Waki

I also noticed this in a paper written on the tunnels Paper The paper however follows the official narrative mostly .

'Other possible explanations for the ‘tunnels’ construction range from a refuge for an impending* apocalypse, *contraband warehouses, and as a means of moving unseen through the area. There does not appear to be any evidence for these theories other than Williamson’s reported religious fervour and highly secretive nature'

 Spidy senses tingling.

Here is a drawing depicting the area in 1550. Have tried to find a source showing the terrain prior, I have not as yet. This artist must have spent so much time up there in their balloon....





Noticed how there was almost no interest in the tunnels for almost a century? Why could that be? Allow the populous to forget about them?

Waki

Some guy called Charles Hand visited the tunnels in the early 1900's and made some amendments to Stonehouse's work, other than this, Hand is another ghost.

Hand

Lets have a look at the history of the tunnels, again there is very little, from the FOW website which manages the tunnels, or waki.

‘The manner in which matters developed from this point on is the subject of much Chinese whispering and even more speculation. A choice has to be made here without the benefit of any significant documentary evidence. Most casual and many serious observers today maintain that Williamson had his men continue digging, building and tunnelling, perhaps making use of the old quarries on the site, as a response to the poverty which surrounded his neighbourhood. Certainly, the construction stepped up a gear and a labyrinth began to take shape, but was it genuinely the product of philanthropy on Williamson’s part?’

I am back where I started. Who in their right mind would build this to give people work, or for giggles? What about the planning, the tools, the skills, the spoil? The FOW website admits Williamson may not even have made any plans!

Below is hand drawn map of the tunnels supposedly drawn by Stonehouse, but again can we believe this guy?





​

And here is the most recently proposed map, including know and suspected tunnels.





It seems that more tunnels are regularly being unearthed (surprise) Link Note how these tunnels have names: Banquet Hall, Boiler room, Kitchen.... Tunnels my #rse.

If we look at the terrain around Edge Hill, could it possibly suggest a mud flood? I have driven up there before, and it is certainly on a steep incline with a mound on top of the hill. The train lines and tunnels do appear to be cut into the hill, when it appears it would have been easier to run over ground, but if there are tunnels already there?

Old drawing (Published 1847) and recent google earth screen grab: Again, this artist must have spent so much time up there in their balloon....





​Red marks the location of the the tunnels. Link to original

Below, google earth similar view today, you can see the railway cut into the 'mound' and yes there is rock.





I am not buying any of the official narrative.

Could it be, that these (and many more tunnels were already in existence, were discovered and simply dug out, perhaps when laying railways? Further, could Joseph Williamson be another one of these dubious historical fugues, perhaps from the imagination of Stonehouse? Or are they both fabricated figures to sustain the narrative?

Could it be that this labyrinth of buildings have simple been rediscovered, and this Williamson guy has been introduced to the narrative, to cover up the actual origin of the tunnels/ rooms/ chambers?

It is pretty obvious that these are not simply tunnels. But by calling them tunnels, people do not look past that.

What also struck me when seeing these tunnels is their similarity to some other ‘Victorian’ tunnels which I came across near me, which are said to have been built in the same mid-1800s, and serve as storm drains…

Sheffield Megatron:





I have lived in Yorkshire for 47 years and not a single friend or member of my family had heard of these tunnels when I asked. It seems these tunnels have been rediscovered over the last decade by Urban explorers.

Urbex

*TS Conclusion:*

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that there is more here than meets the eye. I am not convinced that any of these structures are what they are said to be, I believe they all had a prior use/ function. These Williamson tunnels are certainly not what they are being sold to be.

The next time I visit Liverpool, shall book on a tour and take my own images, I will also ask some awkward questions, I know what the responses will be, but I have to ask 

Would love to hear your thoughts, and does anyone have experience of similar across the UK or worldwide?

Cheers, TS.





> Note: This OP was recovered from the Wayback Archive.





> Note: Archived Sh.org replies to this OP: The Williamson Tunnels, Liverpool, UK.


----------



## Timeshifter (Sep 17, 2020)

All made 'underground' to give local builders something to do...

They've found another tunnel...


----------



## usselo (Jan 10, 2021)

Andrei Stepanenko posted an updated piece on Liverpool's Williamson Tunnels yesterday. Updates dating of mudfill event, plus speculations about the nature of the cause and possible continuing water table effects.

Russian original at Ливерпульские подземелья

English translation at https://178.62.117.238/liverpool-dungeons.html


----------



## Timeshifter (Jan 10, 2021)

Possibly flooded sometime between 1842-1850... I need time to look further in to this, but have very little ?


----------



## Jd755 (Jan 10, 2021)

I've been having a look for evidence myself. Scant is the word I'd use.
This Liverpool Journal, Feb 3rd   1877 suggests that nothing of note happened between 1877 and 1827 ish.
Source



> Praise must be given to the lifeboat and tug crews for their gallant and persistent efforts in saving a barque in distress off Leasowe Lighthouse. A resident of  Leasowe for 50yrs said that in his recollection there had been no tremendous gale and sea as was experienced on Tuesday.



There was also flooding at Southport but this was inundation by the sea.



> At Southport on Tuesday the tide rose to a great height sweeping over the Promenade and flooding houses built thereon, boats were taken away from their moorings and dashed to pieces whilst others foundered. Many of the “Swings” on the shore have been destroyed, one of the canoes belonging to the Southport Rowing Club has been swept out to sea. The Pier has withstood the storm having only slight damage. The farms around Southport are entirely flooded and great damage has been done to crops



Should some sort of malevolent storm deliver a deluge over the Pennines or indeed prolonged persistent heavy rain the route from them to the sea at Liverpool via the Mersey contains many areas which would become inundated with floodwater and dissipate the flood long before it reached Liverpool. I'm not au fait with the location of these tunnels in relation to the Mersey or any of its tributaries but it is worth bearing in mind all rivers are essentially land drains and as such seem to be able to cope with all but the most awesome amounts of incessant rainfall. Certainly near here the river Eden floods Cockermouth and other towns along its length quite often after persistent rather than sudden storm rainfall. This happens for two reasons the tree cover along the river from its headwaters has been removed and the river has been 'managed' by man over key points of its length.

Does the Mersey mirror this human activity?


----------



## usselo (Feb 9, 2021)

Liverpool Necropolis containing an alleged 80,000 bodies re-appears as sinkhole in Grants Park, Everton area (ie close to area in Timeshifter's maps above): Sinkhole Appears in Former Cemetery in Liverpool

Apparently known since 1914, when monuments etc were removed in case their weight triggered collapses.


----------



## Timeshifter (Feb 9, 2021)

usselo said:


> Liverpool Necropolis containing an alleged 80,000 bodies re-appears as sinkhole in Grants Park, Everton area (ie close to area in Timeshifter's maps above): Sinkhole Appears in Former Cemetery in Liverpool
> 
> Apparently known since 1914, when monuments etc were removed in case their weight triggered collapses.


Good spot, this is about 0.8 miles from the Tunnels 'centre' who knows how far these 'tunnels' go! All over the city is my guess!

?


----------



## Jd755 (Feb 9, 2021)

Does anybody know what an 'emergency duty worker' is?

Doesn't matter its machine writing as evidenced by this snippet

"A Liverpool City Council spokeswoman added: “Emergency duty officers attended the site at the weekend and have made the hole good and a mound will now be created."


----------



## Citezenship (Feb 9, 2021)

kd-755 said:


> Does anybody know what an 'emergency duty worker' is?


Duty to my mind refers to military, guard duty, here is a funny definition.

a military assignment involving watching over or protecting a person or place or supervising prisoners.

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/guard-duty


----------



## Frodod (May 31, 2021)

I have just come across this thread and I knew I had seen these tunnels before. Here is two videos by Martin Zero on the Williamson tunnels.
He is a friendly guy going to historic locations and filming them. Very informative narration for those interested in the mainstream story. But especially interesting is the film footage. The underground complex is enormous. 
In part one he goes underground at the Paddington site.
In the second part he descends underneath Williamsons house.




These videos will point out a couple of obvious anomalies (for example grand stairs in a cellar, perfect sandstone arches Part 2 14:53min and 25:20 min).

Martin Zero has much more very interesting videos. Many about Manchester. All about historic infrastructure: rail-lines and stations, waterways, tunnels, viaducts, power-stations and so on. Watch and do your own narration.


----------

