The Mole of Edge Hill

Book excerpt: Williamson's Tunnels remain one of Liverpool's most intriguing mysteries, some two centuries after they were constructed by the city's greatest eccentric, Joseph Williamson. In the early years of the nineteenth century this rich merchant paid a secret army of men to dig a labyrinth that stretches for miles beneath the city. In The Mole Of Edge Hill writer David Clensy presents a dual approach to understanding more about this singular character. The first half of the book is a short novel in which the author brings the eerie subterranean world to life, imagining what Williamson's life may have been like. In the second half of the book, after years of research, the writer presents the most in-depth history yet written of the real Mole Of Edge Hill.