Uncovering Liverpool’s Hidden Labyrinth: The Williamson Tunnels

Volunteer diggers and heritage groups are clearing a 19th-century sandstone network beneath Edge Hill, Liverpool. The complex extends at least 60 feet below street level and may cover a square mile. Visitors descend through ladders into vaulted chambers, including a 27-foot-high “Banqueting Hall” that stretches 65 feet. The hall’s floor is dense rubble up to 20 feet deep.

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Joseph Williamson (1769-1840) bought land in Edge Hill in 1806 and, over 34 years, directed quarrying of red sandstone, building houses above and tunnels below. He left no written records; after his death the tunnels were filled with demolition debris and forgotten for a century. Interest revived after historian Charles Hand’s early-20th-century articles, prompting official surveys in 1926. The Joseph Williamson Society formed in 1989, later giving rise to the Friends of Williamson Tunnels (FoWT) and the Williamson Tunnels Heritage Centre, which run regular tours.

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• Tom Stapledon – Volunteer guide and researcher with FoWT.

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• Billy Moran – Volunteer guide at the Heritage Centre.

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• Friends of Williamson Tunnels (FoWT) – Oversees the largest tour route and the Banqueting Hall.

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• Williamson Tunnels Heritage Centre – Offers complementary tours of double- and triple-decked passages.

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Volunteers interpret the tunnels as philanthropy: providing steady employment for men facing unemployment after industrial mechanisation and post-Napoleonic demobilisation, thereby reducing idleness and its social costs.

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Billy Moran adds that 1830s railway workers grew superstitious about the unexpected passages.

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Tour participants see 19th- and 20th-century crockery, bottles and doll heads displayed in excavated chambers. The environment is dry, well-lit, and comfortable, contrasting with narrower, pitch-black passages that feel prehistoric. Volunteers meet weekly in a construction trailer, sharing discoveries and homemade cakes, highlighting the community spirit.

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• Depth: at least 60 feet.

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• Estimated horizontal extent: up to one square mile.

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• Banqueting Hall: 27 feet high, 65 feet long.

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• Network comprises a dozen known sections; the Paddington site is the largest.

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• “We have struggled for 30 years with our research, trying to make sense of the story, and it’s very difficult because he was a very secretive man, and what he was doing was very strange and very eccentric,” — Tom Stapledon

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• “The railway men were getting a bit worried, a bit superstitious, apparently thinking they were digging too deep and getting too close to Hell.” — Billy Moran

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Volunteer teams will continue clearing and documenting passages, aiming to map the labyrinth and preserve the site for future educational tours.

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