Tunnels, cathedrals, and the maritime museum on foot.
My route was walking from round about Brunswick Dock up through Toxteth to the Williamson Tunnels for a small but interesting hard hat tour. I got dripped on somewhat. What I liked was the idea of layers of tunnels and arches on top of each other like a Victoria sandwich, but this was not that visible on this tour, and I also like the idea that nobody quite knows how many tunnels there still are. They’re waiting to be discovered and excavated. I ‘d like to go back when/ if more was open to the public. The visitor centre seems to be run on a shoestring and lots of enthusiasm.
www.williamsontunnels.co.uk
This site has some interesting photographs and some (incomplete) maps of the tunnels.
http://www.williamsontunnels.com/virtour.htm
After the tunnels I enjoyed the Metroploitan Cathedral concrete architecture, then stumbled upon the St James’ cemetary, which was like a beautiful enchanted garden in the Spring sunshine. This former quarry also has some tunnels. www.stjamescemetery.co.uk
From there I walked to the Chambre Hardman House. This is a fascinating slice of what looks like 1930 to 1950’s domestic life, a complete time capsule formerly belonging to the photographers Mr & Mrs Hardman. The dark rooms fascinated me as always, reminding me of my childhood. They didn’t have the redolent chemical smell on tap disappointingly.
After this I staggerd back outside to rejoin this century and went to the Robots and Avatars exhibition at FACT for a double espresso.
I walked down to the Maritime museum at the docks to see if they had any exhibits on WW2 Seaforts, they didn’t, and photgraphed some former, grand cinema buildings, now crumbling away and mostly boarded up.
I have no idea how many miles I walked, but it felt like a helluva few.
Dominique Rey
