Built by an "eccentric" merchant, mysterious tunnels under the city of Liverpool baffle everyone

Editor's Note: This article was written by Ofoq News Producer Maureen O'Hare. - The entrance to what has been described as the world's largest mysterious underground structure looks very modest. This structure, located at a minimum depth of 18 meters, under the streets of the English city of Liverpool, and extending over an area of ​​​​more than 3.6 square kilometers, constituted a mystery dating back centuries.

On Sunday morning, our tour group gathered at a trailer at a site where active excavation was underway, donned hard hats and yellow reflective vests, and prepared to enter one of England's most unusual sights: a multi-level network of tunnels and chambers, dug under the direction of tobacco merchant Joseph Williamson in the early 19th century, beneath his house and the surrounding neighborhood. These tunnels were filled with rubble and waste, and remained forgotten for more than a century before they were rediscovered in the early 21st century, after which arduous excavation operations began.

Volunteers, including our tour guide Tom Stapledon, have devoted decades to the excavation, seeking to answer one question: Why were these tunnels built? Over the years, strange theories have emerged about its purpose, ranging from being a corridor for smuggling illicit goods, to being the headquarters of a secret group that believes in the end of the world.

“We have faced great difficulties over 30 years of research to try to understand the story,” Stapledon said as we prepared to descend. “It is very complicated because Williamson was a very secretive man.” A system lost for centuries. We headed towards the site of Paddington, the largest part of these tunnels discovered, out of about a dozen known so far.

We descended a flight of stairs into the first of a series of spacious rooms. The place is dry and well-lit, and looks very cozy, like an elegant wine cellar.

At the end of the room, we are greeted by paintings of both Williamson and his wife, Elizabeth. Williamson was born in Yorkshire, but moved to Liverpool when he was 11 to learn the tobacco trade from Elizabeth's father, Richard Tate.

Williamson took over the business in 1803 after amassing a fortune through this and other ventures. He and Elizabeth had no children, and the pair had no heirs.

It soon becomes clear that calling this maze "Williamson's Tunnels" is unfair to this entire underground world. From this room alone, three paths branch out: a narrow, dark corridor reminiscent of prehistoric tombs, a staircase leading to other rooms below, and a third path, which we took first, leads us to a room filled with pieces of ceramic vessels and bottles dating back to the 19th and 20th centuries, along with the heads of small, frightening dolls.

All of these items were found as a result of excavations that began when the tunnels were rediscovered during the 1990s. When Williamson purchased land in Edge Hill in 1806, he aimed to create an upscale neighborhood in what was then an undeveloped area about 5 kilometers from the city.

“He built houses along this street,” Stapledon explained, “but at the same time he was quarrying sandstone, and under our feet up here there are solid, solid layers of red sandstone. He spent 34 years supervising his workers quarrying sandstone, while building houses in many of the sites up there.”

But this decades-long construction project was carried out in complete secrecy. Williamson never spoke about his plans publicly, and it is not known whether he invited anyone to see what was going on.

He also did not leave any written records or maps that might explain the purpose of these tunnels or even their extent. A few years after his death, only a memory of the maze remained in popular memory.

Interest revived just over a century ago, when historian Charles Hand published a series of articles that prompted formal surveys in 1926. In 1989, the Joseph Williamson Society was founded, which eventually (in a perhaps confusing twist) gave rise to two separate groups that maintain the site today: the Friends of the Williamson Tunnels (FoWT) and the Williamson Tunnels Heritage Centre.

Banquet Hall The Banquet Hall, at just over 8 meters high and sponsored by the Friends of the Williamson Tunnels, is the most impressive of all the tunnel sites that have been identified and uncovered. We entered this cathedral-like place, from the upper level down, to explore the space extending 20 meters below.

The hall gets its name from a story, which is probably not true, that Williamson once invited wealthy guests to his house, but served them a modest meal of bacon and beans. It was said that after many of them left to express their dissatisfaction, Williamson invited the loyal guests to a luxurious banquet held in this hall.

An eccentric man “The source of a lot of the exaggerated stories about Williamson is a man called John Stonehouse, who today we would call a 'folk historian,'” said Moran, a tour guide and volunteer at the Williamson Tunnel Heritage Centre, as he guided a tour of the tunnels. Moran described Williamson as "an eccentric man in many ways."

Digging tunnels for an 'eccentric' man So, what exactly was Williamson doing? Williamson legacy organizations have come to one conclusion: the most likely explanation for the endless tunneling is “philanthropy,” which was to provide honest employment and help men gain skills at a time when living conditions were extremely difficult.

“Williamson reached a point in his life where his biggest concern was keeping men busy, some of whom were men who were desperate for work,” Stapledon explained. “Otherwise, they would spend their time standing on street corners, which could get them into trouble, and they might end up in prison, unable to support their families.”

"He (Williamson) did a lot for people who had no better choice than to dig tunnels for a local eccentric," Moran said. Stapledon pointed out that it took years of volunteer work to clean these tunnels, but they were finally able to find out why they were built.