If we're going to be pedantic, it doesn't say the lower floors were above ground.
Floors don't get any lower than cellars.
The point I was making was that it is not, and was not, a buried street.
You, yourself, seem to think the lower floors were above ground.
They are now used as foundations for the present building, which led me to assume they were cellars, unless the present occupiers of the building have to walk up one or two flights of stairs to reach the 'ground' floor of the newer building.
The courts in Liverpool were built with cellars.
The maximum use of the site was obtained.
I'd be very surprised if this building in Edinburgh didn't have cellars.
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Last edited by PhilipG; 08-13-2007 at 04:43 PM.
It's on what was a fairly unevenly (and steeply) sloping site. The surviving walls are a mixture of cellars and ground and first floors. The ground level of these buildings is now the cellar floor level. So that floor is a buried street surface.
http://www.edinburgh.org.uk/MaryKing/history.htm
This section sort of explains it - the current street level at the top of the site is two floors above the early street level:
http://www.edinburgh.org.uk/MaryKing/section.htm
This is a picture of the 'lost street' under Renshaw Street. I have other pictures of this too, but have contacted the press over this and feel that they should have first view of all the other pictures.
What you are seeing is the small 'road' running underneath Renshaw Street. You drop down through the grid and end up in a square room, blocked off by two bricked up door arches, but turning a corner you come to the below view. On the left you can see the remains of the bricked up doors with their stone lintels at the top and the blocked up windows with their stone sashes. At the end of the passageway, there was a right turn, which then led to more of the same. This then turned left again and it was blocked up by an arched door (bricked up).
A handful of people know the location of this 'street' and I can guarentee that this is 100% true, that it is underneath Renshaw Street.
(Picture removed due to it not actually being a street or not knowing the full history of the building it was under )
Last edited by Cadfael; 08-15-2007 at 04:18 PM.
Amazing picture and so much work from you gone into the finding of it thank you for sharing , im sure there are many more underground streets in liverpool.
Live life to the full
I see you always write 'road' and 'street' in inverted commas.
Other people might not notice, but I think you're not sure what they are.
They're cellars, nothing else.
In an earlier post you mention 25 yards.
That's only about 75 feet - about the size of one largish building.
Refer to my earlier post detailing the history of Renshaw Street.
Now you've got people believing that Liverpool is littered with "many more underground streets"!
Last edited by PhilipG; 08-15-2007 at 02:53 PM.
Hi Philip
I am as skeptical as you are, although I will say that I have been thinking of this issue of underground streets, tunnels that go here and there, e.g., the ones that supposedly go from the site of the castle to the Mersey, from Mother Redcap's in Liscard to the Red Noses west of New Brighton, and even the rather fantastic and implausible suggestion that medieval monks tunneled under the Mersey from the northern shore near St. Michael's to Stanlaw Abbey near Ellesmere Port. Frankly, I think one thing that makes people in Liverpool believe such stories is the existence of Williamson's tunnels right here in this very same city. So it is perhaps no wonder that people are prepared to believe such other tunnels or underground passages exist, whether they are actual or not.
All the best
Chris
Christopher T. George
Editor, Ripperologist
Editor, Loch Raven Review
http://christophertgeorge.blogspot.com/
Chris on Flickr and on MySpace
I'm sorry if I left any information out of the above post. About 1ft away from the wall is a line of curb stones which you would not get if it was a simple cellar system - indicating some sort of pavement under the rubble you can see in the picture. The opposite wall was much newer which would indicate that this passageway/street/road - call it what you wish, was much wider.
My personal view is that if it was a cellar system, then it would have been a bloomin large house going off in 3 different directions, towards St Luke's, and towards the Adelphi.
I have poured over maps of this area and the layout of them does not fit in with any type of building I have seen on maps, it is set away from the road but in order for this to have been a celler system, the houses must have been about 8ft wide if Renshaw Street was there at the time.
I can only report on what I saw from first hand information, people can make up their own mind as to what is classed as a road/lane or celler system.
I'll post a couple of maps, later.
Not knowing exactly what these 'kerbstones' are, or look like, I'd hazard a guess at some sort of drainage system.
I agree with Chris, that Williamson's tunnels have fuelled a lot of rumours, and I know that there will be other tunnels.
But I can't understand why there should be underground streets.
I still don't accept the concept of underground streets (anywhere), especially in a city as young (and consisting of solid rock) as Liverpool.
Remember, Renshaw Street was fields until the 1790s.
Cellars also went under the roadway.
Part of a building in Berry Street was demolished recently (it was built 1790s), and you could (perhaps still can) see a doorway leading under the street.
I could romanticise and say it's a tunnel leading to St Luke's, but I don't think so.
Last edited by PhilipG; 08-15-2007 at 03:40 PM.
You are quite correct Philip. However one has to ask the simple question - Is something that is underground merely a tunnel, a road, a cellar or a walkway.
That is the biggest problem that people cannot agree on. Whatever the outcome, it is good for people to find things like this that aren't generally known about, they can call it what they like, but everyone has their own opinions which always muddles up what exactly it is.
Is this the place that is accessed by the old Kwik Fit place ?
Just in passing, where they are digging up Brownlow Hill (outside the Electrical Engineering Building)the trench has cut along some brickwork which turns a corner and this is lined with white ceramic faced bricks, I just noticed them after the rain the other day.
Could you put up that picture again Cadfael,I'd really like to see it. Even if it's just a cellar,anything like this about "Hidden Liverpool" just fascinates me. People don't know what's under their feet.
Dave.
Ok I've sent a message using the "send message" thingy on your profile.
Dave.
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