Tunnels Under Liverpool

[balls]

hi i was just wandering if anyone knows of the tunnel that runs under county rd the only thing i know is that it runs through the glebe pub ther is actually an entrance in the celler which lets you go left towards walton church or right down county rd any ifo would be appreciated thanks

[fortinian]

This is beginning to annoy me now; when people post and say

'Anyone know about a tunnel from...'

Automatically assumes thet there is a tunnel there and that it is well known about when in 99% cases it is simply an old cellar.

My suggestion, is that instead of posting on here, go an ask the places if you can have a look then report back here. We could create a sort of list of real tunnels and urban myth tunnels.

Balls, you sound like you've already been into the tunnel (at least to the entrance), if not where did you get your description from?

[balls]

yeah ive had a look it goes in the direction of walton church and the opposite way towards hale rd direction i have not explored it which is why i was asking whether anyone had heard of it and maybe could enlighten me if i knew what it was i wouldnt be on here

[fortinian]

As you can tell, mysteries annoy me! I wasn't having at go at you Balls, I was just annoyed about all these tunnels that people speak of yet no-one seems to know where exactly they are or how to get to them.

At least this County Road tunnel has been seen, i'd love to have a look at it.

[Samp]

Sounds like you may have broken into the sewer there Balls!

[Martin S]

Back in the mid-Seventies, I worked in the City Engineer's department structures section. The head of the department told me that back in the 50s he had been asked to visit the site of the new Corn Exchange then under construction in Drury Lane.

The Contractors had found a tunnel and when the engineers inspected it, they found that it extended some way and that there were actually four levels of tunnels. They were narrow and had cages, like cells, built in along one side.

Apparently, nobody knew how far these tunnels extended or what they had been used for. There was speculation that they followed the old streets of the town and that they had been used for imprisoning slaves following the abolition of the slave trade - but there was no evidence for that.

One of the engineers who had seen the tunnels told me that they had found an old oil lamp. When they went to pick it up, it collapsed into dust.

The engineer's advice to the contractors was to collapse in the top tier of tunnels and fill it in.

I wrote to Jim Moore about this some years ago and he said that he might research it for an update of Underground Liverpool.

Two other underground features that I found out about when I was working there were the concrete bridges constructed across Georges Dock. In this case they actually had the site photographs dated 1907.

The bridges carry Water Street and Brunswick Street from the Strand between the Three Graces to the Pier Head. They are massive structures and are still there (the Brunswick Street one can be seen if you go on the Mersey Tunnels tour). Photographs taken before the Cunard Building was built show the Brunswick Street bridge to be quite an ornate structure with a viaduct of four-centred arches supporting the road and a similar viaduct, at a higher level supporting the footpath. The Water Street bridge is just a box.

The engineers had been inside the Water Street box and found it to be partially flooded. When they tested the water, they found it to be identical to tap water.

Although their existence is well documented, there is some mystery in just why they were built. It would have been much cheaper just to have filled in the dock - so presumably they were part of some civic project that got shelved when the Liver and Cunard Buildings were constructed.

[fortinian]

Now that is interesting Martin... I never knew of these bridges.

Has Jim Moore said he will do an updated version of Underground Liverpool?

[Waterways]

Here they are. It looks like arches were built to allow small boats around Georges Dock. The passage from Canning Dock, behind the Dock Office, can still be seen. That whole space was one dock water space. Georges Dock had a boat passage to Princes Dock and Canning Docks. Both of these can still be seen in these docks.

Me thinks: then they decided that the other road extension would be solid, as the dock was too big for small boats. The near side of Georges Dock is being filled in, as the two photos show.

Then...events overtook and the usage changes as planning permission came in for large water front buildings, so the dock was to be filled in fully - well the dock forms the basements of the three buildings.





Pics 20th century images.

The waterfront baths are demolished between the two photos taken.

[Ged]

Great pics WW. I expect you'd get doube height basements out of the depth of Georges dock too.

[Waterways]

It looks like some of the buildings at Chester Basin, which is in front of the Dock Office, had also been demolished. Manchester Dock is still there, as this was filled in in, in 1929 at the same time as Chester Basin.

Chester Basin was the tidal ferry terminal until the Pier Head Landing Stage was built.

[irishseashipping.com]

[QUOTE=Although their existence is well documented, there is some mystery in just why they were built. It would have been much cheaper just to have filled in the dock - so presumably they were part of some civic project that got shelved when the Liver and Cunard Buildings were constructed.[/QUOTE]

If you go to the Liverpool on line archive there are many detailed pictures of the construction of the Brunswick Street bridge across George's Dock.

As you say it is a bit of a mystery as to why the dock wasn't just filled in or earth/stone embankbank constructed across it such as the temporary one which was placed across Prince's Dock in 2008 to facilitate the construction of the canal over-bridge under William Jessop Way (Prince's Parade) or as at Water Street when a stone embankment was used as shown in the above pictures.

Surely someone out there must know the definitive reason?

John

[Knottedash]

Howdy all, dont know if this has been said and Im sorry if t has. If you ask at the cunard building reception if there is anything in their basement they will contact their manager who will give you a tour of the 3 floors below ground level.

Me and a chum went the other day. There is storage for the steerage passengers and safes for the 1st class for their baggage. And an air raid shelter in the bottom level. The guy who showed us round said he does tours so anyone can go any time you just have to give him a ring and organize it. He also showed us an old part of the dock, from the posts above it must've been one of the docks mentioned in the post on the other page - Manchester dock and Chester basin. You can also see the remains of a miniature steam loco track that took the baggage. He said that it linked all three graces eventually. The bomb shelter mentioned earlier was also accessible from all three graces. But I guess for security reasons its been sub divided between the buildings.

well worth a mooch.

[Deanfof]

I've currently been working at Cavern Walks the past 2 years. I know of the underground caverns but where do they actually go? In the basement there is a cast iron plate over an entrance leading to a very deep descent but I know no more on this.
Today strangely enough i found a very smelly cylinder full of water (approx 5ft diameter) covered with 2 sewer covers also in the basement. It's got cables and metal chains attatched to a metal pole that go straight down and thats it. Got no idea how deep this goes but i'm gonna get fishing line and a weight to measure the depth next week.
Can anyone shed any light on this?

[wsteve55]

Welcome to Yo Deanfof! I think this has come up before,on here,and possibly something to do with the water table,and/or wells? There's a couple of underground devotee's on Yo,who could explain? Fortinian?