Truly fascinating these tunnels and story and mystery behind them. Amazing the whole country isnt demanding full excavation of this amazing accomplishment and subsequent forgotten act of compassion to fellow man.
Another fascinating video Tom, many thanks. I wonder if the original damage to the tunnel roof could have been due to WW2 bombing? For example, just a few blocks from my house here in Eastbourne, a 250kg bomb dropped during a raid on 13th September 1940 hit our local recreation ground without exploding. It penetrated the ground to a depth of over 20 feet, which if replicated above your tunnel could cause the type of damage you saw to the roof. It would be interesting to overlay a map of Liverpool bomb strikes over your tunnel network to see if any correspond with the tunnel damage. Most towns and cities created maps of bomb strikes during WW2 to help with post-war UXB clearance so you might find one in your local history archive. BTW, the UXB near me, named 'Hermann' by the locals at the time, was finally dug up and destroyed in a controlled explosion in January 1946.
Thank you for your comment, that is so interesting. The area where this tunnel lay, was cleared in 2019 for the building of a multi-storey car park. Because of the proximity of our tunnels, a comprehensive ground survey was undertaken which may have been the final nail in the coffin for that tunnel as I described. The interesting thing is that although I had read the survey report and it contained a report on war time bomb damage in that spot, with buildings damaged, I didn't make the connection. However, during the discussion after my presentation at that meeting, someone asked exactly that question. That's when the penny dropped and I said yes, that's very likely. I went back to the report and I'm now quite sure that the bombs dropped on that site were very likely to be the cause of the damage. You may have been able to tell from the photos in the slideshow, that the tunnel roof was massively thick. We had already decided that the damage was likely to have been caused by external trauma. I now know that a school and a plaster works on that spot were damaged enough that they were demolished soon after the war. Tom
Thank you for your dedication, Tom. Have you ever used the maps from The National Library of Scotland site ? The maps from the 1840s show the layout of Williamsons gardens. Seems to be lots of staircases on the land. And what looks like a brick structure where the end of the cavers squeeze is.
Hi, yes, I have used those side by side maps. They're very good. There were three areas in the rear of the properties that I call "sunken yards". I know that's what they were because we unearthed one of them at the rear of Williamson's house. It extends backwards on the site behind his basement kitchen with a big bay window looking out onto it. A very detailed 1891 OS map shows two more of them immediately alongside, behind the houses next door, with several sets of stairs leading down to them. I presume they all led down to tunnels at one time. Ours certainly does. It would have been difficult to ever work out what they had been if we hadn't discovered the one on our site and excavated it out after having been filled in and buried under concrete since 1936.
Another thing Tom. I used to live on Highgate St in the 70s-80s. In 1983, a friend of mine got employed at Magnet and Southern on Mason St. After a few weeks of working there, he told me that he was looking around the site and had accessed a giant chamber, that was below the building. At the time, none of us had any idea that the Great Tunnel existed. We knew of the tunnels at the heritage site, but not under the Magnet site or Williamsons house. Thinking back, I wonder if he somehow found his way into the Great Tunnel, or at least part of it ?
@@TheBlackJuJu Without wanting to sound dismissive of what your friend told you, we've heard so many stories like this related by people who used to live in the area, which can't be substantiated in any way. During the years from 1996, when we were investigating the area, and right up to 2016, when Magnet's was demolished, we looked at the site in detail, and there was no way to get below ground there. After the demolition, we got permission in 2017 to undertake three digs on the site, when we uncovered the area where the Great Tunnel should be, down to about 18 feet below ground. We found some massive stone walls in an L shape, and other features that were obviously "Williamson", but no sign of the Great Tunnel, and in fact, no sign of any bedrock level that could have formed the spring line of the Great Tunnel arch. We have to assume that it's much lower in the ground, built into a massive stone quarry dug from the Smithdown Lane end. The most likely scenario is that the tunnels has been destroyed and collapsed by the Territorial Army who occupied the site for so many years, and who demolished a whole row of Williamson's houses to build a new barracks and drill hall.
Many thanks Tom - liked and subscribed.
Truly fascinating these tunnels and story and mystery behind them. Amazing the whole country isnt demanding full excavation of this amazing accomplishment and subsequent forgotten act of compassion to fellow man.
Another fascinating video Tom, many thanks. I wonder if the original damage to the tunnel roof could have been due to WW2 bombing? For example, just a few blocks from my house here in Eastbourne, a 250kg bomb dropped during a raid on 13th September 1940 hit our local recreation ground without exploding. It penetrated the ground to a depth of over 20 feet, which if replicated above your tunnel could cause the type of damage you saw to the roof. It would be interesting to overlay a map of Liverpool bomb strikes over your tunnel network to see if any correspond with the tunnel damage. Most towns and cities created maps of bomb strikes during WW2 to help with post-war UXB clearance so you might find one in your local history archive. BTW, the UXB near me, named 'Hermann' by the locals at the time, was finally dug up and destroyed in a controlled explosion in January 1946.
Thank you for your comment, that is so interesting. The area where this tunnel lay, was cleared in 2019 for the building of a multi-storey car park. Because of the proximity of our tunnels, a comprehensive ground survey was undertaken which may have been the final nail in the coffin for that tunnel as I described. The interesting thing is that although I had read the survey report and it contained a report on war time bomb damage in that spot, with buildings damaged, I didn't make the connection. However, during the discussion after my presentation at that meeting, someone asked exactly that question. That's when the penny dropped and I said yes, that's very likely. I went back to the report and I'm now quite sure that the bombs dropped on that site were very likely to be the cause of the damage. You may have been able to tell from the photos in the slideshow, that the tunnel roof was massively thick. We had already decided that the damage was likely to have been caused by external trauma. I now know that a school and a plaster works on that spot were damaged enough that they were demolished soon after the war. Tom
Unbelievable how they were constructed crazy work the like the piramds under ground big time
Thank you for your dedication, Tom.
Have you ever used the maps from The National Library of Scotland site ? The maps from the 1840s show the layout of Williamsons gardens. Seems to be lots of staircases on the land. And what looks like a brick structure where the end of the cavers squeeze is.
Hi, yes, I have used those side by side maps. They're very good. There were three areas in the rear of the properties that I call "sunken yards". I know that's what they were because we unearthed one of them at the rear of Williamson's house. It extends backwards on the site behind his basement kitchen with a big bay window looking out onto it. A very detailed 1891 OS map shows two more of them immediately alongside, behind the houses next door, with several sets of stairs leading down to them. I presume they all led down to tunnels at one time. Ours certainly does. It would have been difficult to ever work out what they had been if we hadn't discovered the one on our site and excavated it out after having been filled in and buried under concrete since 1936.
Another thing Tom.
I used to live on Highgate St in the 70s-80s. In 1983, a friend of mine got employed at Magnet and Southern on Mason St.
After a few weeks of working there, he told me that he was looking around the site and had accessed a giant chamber, that was below the building.
At the time, none of us had any idea that the Great Tunnel existed. We knew of the tunnels at the heritage site, but not under the Magnet site or Williamsons house.
Thinking back, I wonder if he somehow found his way into the Great Tunnel, or at least part of it ?
@@TheBlackJuJu Without wanting to sound dismissive of what your friend told you, we've heard so many stories like this related by people who used to live in the area, which can't be substantiated in any way. During the years from 1996, when we were investigating the area, and right up to 2016, when Magnet's was demolished, we looked at the site in detail, and there was no way to get below ground there. After the demolition, we got permission in 2017 to undertake three digs on the site, when we uncovered the area where the Great Tunnel should be, down to about 18 feet below ground. We found some massive stone walls in an L shape, and other features that were obviously "Williamson", but no sign of the Great Tunnel, and in fact, no sign of any bedrock level that could have formed the spring line of the Great Tunnel arch. We have to assume that it's much lower in the ground, built into a massive stone quarry dug from the Smithdown Lane end. The most likely scenario is that the tunnels has been destroyed and collapsed by the Territorial Army who occupied the site for so many years, and who demolished a whole row of Williamson's houses to build a new barracks and drill hall.