The Corporation Stable Yard, Smithdown Lane, Liverpool. Archaeological Watching Brief Report

In June 2010, Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) was commissioned by Robert
Hodgson (RA Fisk Associates) to monitor a programme of geo-technical
investigations on the site of a redundant stable yard on Smithdown Lane, Liverpool
(centred on NGR 336340 390140).
Liverpool, particularly the area around the stable yard, is famed for its association
with Williamson’s Tunnels, a post-medieval network of tunnels constructed within
excavated quarry seams, that extend for an undetermined distance around the Edge
Hill area. The tunnels are historically significant as a unique engineering work
undertaken as a philanthropic venture by snuff and tobacco merchant, Joseph
Williamson (1769 - 1840). A large amount of evidence for the tunnels survives and
has been preserved as a popular Heritage Centre, also on Smithdown Lane. The
tunnels have been partially mapped and excavated as part of an ongoing research
agenda, although their full extent is still unknown.