Post by Catsmate on Sept 4, 2015 12:57:04 GMT
Joseph Williamson, the "Mad Mole of Edge Hill" was born in Yorkshire in 1769, the son of a glassmaker. He became a successful businessman in Liverpool in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, mainly in the field of tobacco products, and was quite wealthy. He was also rather eccentric (in the great tradition of such men), a philanthropist and friend to people as different as the engineer George Stephenson and the philosopher James Martineau.
In 1818 be retired from his business interests and gave full reign to his rather odd hobby (especially after his wife's death in 1822); he created a labyrinth of tunnels, underground halls and other subterranean works, extending for several kilometres under the Edge Hill district of Liverpool, much of which he owned. The ranged from about 3 metres under the surface to more than fifteen, all well constructed and brick lined and averaging about a metre wide and two high. There are larger rooms; the one known as the the "banqueting hall" is more than twenty metres long and 6-8m high.
Exactly why he did all this isn't known; explanations have ranged from weird occult rituals and preparations for the impending apocalypse (very unlikely) to a simply eccentric hobby to a philanthropic project to provide work (in the aftermath of the end of the Napoleonic Wars there was a glut of labour in Britain).
After Williamson died in 1840 the work ceased and by the late 1860s the tunnels became rather a nuisance, with drains emptying into them and people using them to dump refuse, leading the city government to engage in filling them with rubble. They were generally forgotten about until the the early twentieth century when soldiers from the West Lancashire Territorial Forces Association, whose drill hall in Mason Street stood on top of one of the tunnels, began to explore them.
Today a group of volunteers under the aegis of the Williamson Tunnels Heritage Centre is carefully excavating the tunnels, unearthing a treasure trove of Georgian , Victorian and Edwardian artefacts.
Links.
The Lost Tunnels of Liverpool
The Enigma of Liverpool's Labyrinth
Williamson Tunnels Heritage Centre
BBC video on the unearthing of the lost Williamson tunnels
OK so far all is historical. Rather bizarre but historical. In an RPG we don't need to stick with mere facts.
What were Williamson's motivations for the tunnellling? Was he looking for something? What could be buried under Liverpool
Was Williamson in his right mind? Or was he possessed by something alien or from another dimension? Perhaps he was hypnotised or under mental influence.
Or were those stories about strange cults really true, what sinister activities were covered by Williamson's cloak of Church of England respectability.
Had Williamson made a deal with things from another world? Was the tunnelling for their benefit?
Could Williamson have been preparing for a major disaster that was averted? Plague, asteroid impact, alien invasion, zombies...
In 1907 the Territorials started exploring the tunnels, and mapped them to a degree. What did they find amongst the rubble? Junk and refuse, still surviving Cybermen, people long buried and living on fungi and human flesh after the apocalypse never came. Or something stranger.
Who else might find an existing network of tunnels and caverns useful? A Mad Scientist or Master Criminal perhaps. Who'd then need to deter investigation and meddling.
Of course secret bases never really go out of fashion. In the UNIT era the tunnels could be in use by anyone; terrestrial menaces like Mad Scientists, aliens, the Master, UNIT itself or a group human mutants with Strange Powers (the Children of Destiny?).
Today there are people exploring and excavating the tunnels. Or is that all they're doing?
Comments? Ideas? Suggestions?
In 1818 be retired from his business interests and gave full reign to his rather odd hobby (especially after his wife's death in 1822); he created a labyrinth of tunnels, underground halls and other subterranean works, extending for several kilometres under the Edge Hill district of Liverpool, much of which he owned. The ranged from about 3 metres under the surface to more than fifteen, all well constructed and brick lined and averaging about a metre wide and two high. There are larger rooms; the one known as the the "banqueting hall" is more than twenty metres long and 6-8m high.
Exactly why he did all this isn't known; explanations have ranged from weird occult rituals and preparations for the impending apocalypse (very unlikely) to a simply eccentric hobby to a philanthropic project to provide work (in the aftermath of the end of the Napoleonic Wars there was a glut of labour in Britain).
After Williamson died in 1840 the work ceased and by the late 1860s the tunnels became rather a nuisance, with drains emptying into them and people using them to dump refuse, leading the city government to engage in filling them with rubble. They were generally forgotten about until the the early twentieth century when soldiers from the West Lancashire Territorial Forces Association, whose drill hall in Mason Street stood on top of one of the tunnels, began to explore them.
Today a group of volunteers under the aegis of the Williamson Tunnels Heritage Centre is carefully excavating the tunnels, unearthing a treasure trove of Georgian , Victorian and Edwardian artefacts.
Links.
The Lost Tunnels of Liverpool
The Enigma of Liverpool's Labyrinth
Williamson Tunnels Heritage Centre
BBC video on the unearthing of the lost Williamson tunnels
OK so far all is historical. Rather bizarre but historical. In an RPG we don't need to stick with mere facts.
What were Williamson's motivations for the tunnellling? Was he looking for something? What could be buried under Liverpool
- Well the usual suspects would be an alien space ship (The Ityean Menace), a lost artefact, a Silurian hibernation chamber and similar.
Was Williamson in his right mind? Or was he possessed by something alien or from another dimension? Perhaps he was hypnotised or under mental influence.
- Might a disembodied, miniaturised or badly injured Master be seeking his lost TARDIS perhaps? Or something more sinister.
Or were those stories about strange cults really true, what sinister activities were covered by Williamson's cloak of Church of England respectability.
- It could be as banal as Hellfire Club style orgies or occult dabblings (à la Taste the Blood of Dracula) or has something with real power been attracted?
Had Williamson made a deal with things from another world? Was the tunnelling for their benefit?
- Cybermen fit very well, they seem to have an affinity for the underground. Maybe a scout ship crashed and they're slowing building up their numbers by converting some of the workmen.
Could Williamson have been preparing for a major disaster that was averted? Plague, asteroid impact, alien invasion, zombies...
- Maybe he overheard a group of PCs discussing some menace and jumped to conclusions. He was an eccentric.
In 1907 the Territorials started exploring the tunnels, and mapped them to a degree. What did they find amongst the rubble? Junk and refuse, still surviving Cybermen, people long buried and living on fungi and human flesh after the apocalypse never came. Or something stranger.
- Insert Torchwood here. It's their period.
Who else might find an existing network of tunnels and caverns useful? A Mad Scientist or Master Criminal perhaps. Who'd then need to deter investigation and meddling.
- 1907 would be a little early for Fu Manchu but maybe a few years later...
Of course secret bases never really go out of fashion. In the UNIT era the tunnels could be in use by anyone; terrestrial menaces like Mad Scientists, aliens, the Master, UNIT itself or a group human mutants with Strange Powers (the Children of Destiny?).
Today there are people exploring and excavating the tunnels. Or is that all they're doing?
Comments? Ideas? Suggestions?
