The entrance to Williamson’s Tunnels (Padgate Site)
After the disappointment of St. John The Evangelist, on the Liverpool Heritage Days… we ventured into the city centre… and Mason Street, to find ourselves at Joseph Willimason’s House (or what’s left of it) and to the site of ‘The Friends of Williamson’s Tunnels’ not to be mixed up with the Williamson Tunnels Heritage Centre on Smithdown Lane, for the two are stand alone enterprises.
the only surviving wall of Williamson’s House + cellar
So… upon arrival, we saw the only surviving wall of Williamson’s House, and the cellars beneath, for those familiar with the Williamson’s story, will recollect that in the early 1800’s, rather than see the fighting men of Liverpool, returning from the Napoleonic wars, to a life of unemployment… Joseph Williamson, A wealthy Liverpool Merchant and Philanthropist, set about employing these men to build a series of ‘folly’ tunnels, beneath the city, going nowhere in particular… After kitting out with PPE… we made our way up the road, to the entrance of Padgate Tunnels… and down into the depths…
Stopping for some history…
After a short stop for some relevant background history, and allowing other groups to pass us in the narrow tunnels, we started our descent into the many caverns, the tunnels have to offer. It was fascinating to see the extent of the work undertaken by these craftsmen of the time… and although the men returning from the war, may not have been brick-layers and masons, when they descended themselves, to work on the tunnels, I think it would be true to say, they certainly leaned from experienced craftsmen, and when they came out of the tunnels, they would have emerged as craftsmen in their own right, to put their new skills to work in the ever expanding City. It could be said, that the tunnels, were in fact, an early ‘craft’ college of their day, teaching the skills needed for the city.
Joseph Williamson, died in the 1840’s, and his tunnels were abandoned… and as such were deserted for many years… I noticed that scattered around the tunnels, were holes and a lot of black material.. this material was instantly recognisable to me…. it was the bi-product of coal, used in the coking process, in which Coal was heating in sealed cylinders (usually by steam) to 1000+ degrees C… in order to draw off the Gas, which in those days was called coal, or town gas… another bi-product of the process, was the coal turned into what we would refer to as coke. The tunnels where scattered with this coke, laid down in the 1800-1900’s.
Artefacts found in the tunnels… rest on beds of coke
As this coke was a bi-product of the gas making industry in the city, the coke needed to be disposed of on a regular basis… what easier way, than to break into the tunnel’s vaulted roofs, and simply pour the coke into the large voids below… you could employ men to ‘spread’ it about, to fit more in, and shovel it into the lower levels by another series of holes…
An array of bottles and jars…
One story, retold by the ‘Friends’ was that of a large city chemist shop, over one of the tunnels, who if a medicine bottle was returned empty, and could not be refilled, it was simply discarded down a chute, which ended at one of the tunnel holes, falling into the void below, and one of the cavers, was found when excavated to be filled with shards of glass and broken bottles.
More Artefacts of a forgotten time
There is no doubt in my mind, that the tunnels, were at one time, being used as extra storage rooms, from the properties above, who may have stored merchandise for safe keeping, and may have simply forgotten about it over time, maybe in the war years, as many of the artefact items found by the modern day ‘friends’ diggers… have been unearthed in pristine condition…
After visiting the upper caverns… we made our way deeper into the tunnels, and into the bedrock layer which the city sits upon… it is only when you see the photos of the original dig, with its coke filled caverns, that you realise, the mammoth task, which needed to be undertaken by the ‘Friends’ to remove the detritus of over 100+ years…
The lower bedrock caverns
Ann and I were that impressed with the information given on the tour, that once back at the offices, we instantly shoved a donation in the box…. and ‘joined’ the friends group… we will definitely be going again…