There are numerous tunnels and catacombs worth visiting in Liverpool, the city itself was built on top of sandstone, which has been quarried for centuries. The tunnels of Joseph Williamson are perhaps the most famous example of early nineteenth century subterranean archaeology in Liverpool at the moment, but there are also forgotten cellars in abandoned halls and catacombs underneath gothic churches that are also worth visiting. Here are three of my favourite historical underground sites in Liverpool.
There are three main sites at the moment that give access to the tunnels; the Friends of Williamson’s Tunnels based on Mason Street and in Paddington, and the Heritage site which is based on Smithdown Lane. These photos here are taken from the Paddington site, which is effectively a series of cellars that was constructed by Williamson sometime in the early nineteenth century, the cellars being constructed on an open sandstone quarry on four levels. The brick work is beautifully done, and Williamson’s attention to detail can be seen in every aspect of the work; from the vaulted brick ceilings to the archways. The cellar was part of Williamson’s overall grand design as there is a connecting tunnel – now blocked off – that can be found at the top level of the cellar. Walking through this underground folly is akin to wandering through the mind of a genius, and is well worth visiting.
The Catacombs of St. John’s Church, Knotty Ash
St. John’s Church in Knotty Ash, Liverpool, is a beautiful Gothic church built between 1834-6,and has some interesting Masonic features; there is a stained glass window which displays three Masonic scenes, and the memorial stone of John Gladstone, the son of prominent local Freemason Robertson Gladstone can be found in the church yard. The catacombs themselves are to be found beneath the church, and the brick work certainly reflects a similar style in places to the tunnels of Joseph Williamson. There are family vaults in the catacombs, and some lead coffins can be glimpsed at through rusting Victorian cast iron ‘shutters’. There is also an old soldier buried in his full uniform.
The Cellar of Woolton Hall
Woolton Hall was built in the early eighteenth century and later became the home for the Ashton family – Nicholas Ashton being a wealthy Liverpool merchant and investor. The hall then passed through a number of owners, until a local Freemason John Hibbert purchased the hall in 1980 and it became used for Masonic meetings and events up until 2006. Since then it has been abandoned and is currently up for sale. According to John, there was a tunnel that led from the cellar to a local chapel, a tunnel which is now bricked up. The cellar itself is typical of the large cellar of an eighteenth century manor house, with separate sections that were used for storing food, wine and ale.
The Shepherd’s Monument, located in the gardens of Shugborough Hall in Staffordshire, England, has attracted many a writer in recent decades, all putting forward theories and trying to crack the ‘code’. It was erected by Thomas Anson sometime between 1748 and 1763, and was funded by his brother George Anson. It was worked on by Peter Scheemakers, the renowned Flemish sculptor, who is more famous for his work on the Shakespeare monument that is located at Poet’s Corner at Westminster Abbey. The relief on the monument is a mirror-image copy of Nicholas Poussin’s second version of the Shepherds of Arcadia, showing three shepherds examining a tomb. An inscription is situated under the relief, revealing O U O S V A V V set above and between the letters D and M. This ‘code’ has never been solved, and has been discussed in books such as The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, the monument being referred to in an almost pseudo-Masonic context. Various Latin phrases have been attributed to the mysterious letters, but, according to the staff at the Hall, they ‘
The folklore surrounding Mackenzie and his pyramid is very similar to another pyramid shaped monument that can be found in St. Thomas a Becket’s church yard in Brightling, Sussex. This monument marks the final resting place of John ‘Mad Jack’ Fuller (1757-1834), an MP who was fond of his drink, earning him the name of ‘Mad Jack’ after a number of drunken incidents. Fuller however was a noted philanthropist, supporting the Royal Institution, and was a builder of follies, building an observatory that was designed by Robert Smirke. Local folklore puts forward that ‘Mad Jack’ was entombed in the pyramid, wearing full dress and top hat, sat a table with a roast chicken and wine. This was disproved after renovations of the tomb in the early 1980s. ‘Mad Jack’, like Mackenzie, is buried underneath the pyramid. Like Mackenzie, Fuller has been linked to Freemasonry, but there has never been any evidence that he was linked to a lodge
There’s nothing like Merseyside hospitality, and this was proved after I gave two lodge talks over the weekend; the first to Dormer Lodge No. 6708 at Birkenhead Masonic Hall on Friday evening and Excelsior Lodge No. 3580 in Garston Masonic Hall on Saturday. Dormer and Excelsior are two vibrant lodges that meet in two excellent Masonic Halls that have some fascinating items on display that reflect the history of the local area, and both are well worth a visit.
There are many Masonic treasures on display in both of these halls; in Birkenhead there is a beautiful rustic-looking Master’s chair that belongs to Mersey Lodge No. 477 (founded in 1841), covered in hand painted and hand carved Masonic symbols. There is also a link to the Training Ship Conway that sank off Anglesey in 1953; the Conway spent some time on the Mersey, and it sank on the way to Birkenhead where it was about to be refitted. There is currently a Conway Lodge No. 4881 (founded in 1926 as a nautical lodge) that meets in Birkenhead. A painting of the Conway hangs in the dining room of the Masonic Hall.
At Garston Masonic Hall just over the water in Liverpool, there are many items on display dating from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, most belonging to the Lodge of Harmony No. 220 (founded in 1796) that still meets at the Hall. I mention the Lodge of Harmony in my book The Liverpool Masonic Rebellion and the Wigan Grand Lodge as a lodge that didn’t join the rebellion, but was effected by the overall fallout. The lodge room itself has boards on display that record the Worshipful Masters of the Lodge of Harmony dating from the late eighteenth century. There is also a fine collection of Masonic glassware and earthenware on display from the nineteenth century.
There are a number of abandoned buildings that once held lodge rooms that I’ve covered on the blog over the past few months, some that I’ve visited like 
According to the website of the current Bannack Lodge, the mission of the lodge is ‘to work with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks for continued maintenance and stabilization of the building, along with the upkeep of the lodge, its furniture and paraphernalia; and for the preservation of the heritage, sights, and history of masonry relating to the Bannack area while enjoying and promoting the fraternity.’
There are many websites purported to be pseudo-Masonic Orders, there are some that are just separate ‘secret Orders’, and there are others that are merely strangely named forum groups, run by Freemasons for the purpose of being discussion groups for various Masonic ideas or philosophies. Some are just light-hearted fun, others take themselves a bit more seriously. One such website advertises the 
While the site at first seems to be a sardonic, tongue-in-cheek exercise, there may be a darker aspect to it; the site, it is alleged, is the location for online bullying by men that profess to be Freemasons, who operate on different websites and known Masonic forums. On another
According to one of my sources 
These so called “
This first photo is a wonderfully historic image, it dates from c.1855 – 1865 and the image itself is from a photograph by David Bohl, and is currently owned by the 
This second photo can be found on various websites across the internet so copyright cannot be established, but it reveals another insight into fraternal orders amongst the black community. It cannot be dated precisely, but an estimate of late 19th/early 20th century can be given. It is a very striking historical photograph, the subject looking very distinguished in the Masonic/other fraternal order regalia.
The third photo can be seen on various internet sites and has popped up on social media a number of times, so copyright cannot be ascertained for certain, but this particular image is indicated as belonging to John Miller images. However, the image also appears in Mark Tabbert’s American Freemasons giving reference to the National Heritage Museum. It reveals three gentlemen, two with Masonic-like regalia, looking very distinguished, the style of their dress providing a date of the 1850s-1860s, a style common with the USA. I like this photo as it shows the three friends together, the one on the left without Masonic regalia, and without knowing the story behind the photograph, your imagination can fill in the gaps; where they friends celebrating a lodge meeting? Where they about to go off to war?
These established Universities have certain clubs for the sons of the elite, such as at Oxford University where the infamous Bullingdon Club was formed. Famed for its riotous and rowdy behaviour, the club became an exclusive and rather secretive dining club for undergraduates in the later nineteenth century, catering mainly for Royalty and the sons of the aristocracy. Brethren of the Oxford-based Apollo University Lodge who were also members of the club included Prince Albert Edward and Cecil Rhodes. More recently, British Prime Minister David Cameron and fellow Conservative politicians such as George Osborne and Boris Johnson were members.
The Piers Gaveston Society is also based at Oxford University, and was founded in 1977, being named after the favourite of Edward II, who has also been referred to as his lover. Similarly to the Bullingdon Club, it has been discussed in the British press as a club which includes drug use, wild behaviour and sexual indulgence, having secretive and ceremonial events at private locations, and was of course linked to the alleged ‘piggate’ affair which concerned current British Prime Minister David Cameron.
In the USA, Fraternal Societies linked to certain Universities such as the Order of Skull and Bones became popular amongst the sons of the elite. Founded at Yale University in 1832 for undergraduates, the Skull and Bones, which has obvious Masonic overtones has, over the years, attracted such well-connected ‘Bonesmen’ as US Presidents George H.W. Bush and his son George W. Bush, and US Secretary of State John Kerry. The Order has admitted female undergraduates since the early 1990s.
Of all the secretive groups and organisations, the Bilderberg Group is perhaps the most written about, with its links to a secret one World Order (indeed one of its founders, British Labour politician Dennis Healey, once said ‘To say we were striving for a one world government is exaggerated, but not wholly unfair’, a quote that seems to fuel the conspiracy theorist fire). The Group first held its conference in the Bilderberg Hotel in the Netherlands in 1954, and drew its members from the political elite of Europe and North America. Dennis Healey’s 2001 interview with the British newspaper The Guardian revealed how future British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher gave a speech at the 1975 conference and won the admiration of the likes of Henry Kissinger and David Rockerfeller – two other Bilderberg ‘members’, and the rest, as they say, is history. Another incident remembered by Healey was how British MP David Owen gave a passionate speech about sanctions against Argentina during the Fauklands conflict, and won the crowd over. A list of Bilderberg ‘members’ is a ‘who’s who’ of the political elite of the West; Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Peter Mandleson, George Osborne, Prince Bernard of the Netherlands, Gerald Ford (also a Freemason), George H.W. Bush, not to mention a host of bankers and company directors of leading corporations such as BP and Barclays Bank.
The Carlyle Group is an American multinational private equity, alternative asset management and financial services corporation, founded in 1987 in Washington DC that has received investments from powerful Saudi princes, the Bin-Laden family and other multi-national corporations. Former President George H.W. Bush had been an advisor to the group in 2003, ex-British Prime Minister John Major had been a chairman to Carlyle Europe between 2001-2004, and Karl Otto Pöhl, former President of the Bundesbank also served as an advisor. It has been labeled by The Guardian as the ‘ex-presidents’ club’ and a number of defense firms have benefited from Carlyle’s success over the years, such as United Defense, which made vertical missile launch systems. They have also been described as being big, quiet, and secretive, dealing with arms and munition manufacturers, and having close relationships with men of power:
Henry Kissinger, George H.W. Bush (again), Ronald Reagan and Theodore Roosevelt have all visited Bohemian Grove. The club was formed in 1872, and the summer encampment was established six years later. They currently meet at 20601 Bohemian Grove in California in mid-July every year, for a two week event. The club started as a gathering for artists and actors, but now attracts the rich and powerful, for an event which has been described as ritualistic and secretive. There is an Owl shrine within the grove, and a ritualistic ceremony takes place with a High Priest and the ‘cremation of Care’; a ceremonial symbolical sacrifice of sorts that ensures success during the encampment. Though discouraged, business deals and political discussion have occurred at Bohemian Grove, one of the most reported of such discussions was a meeting concerning the Manhattan Project, which took place there in September 1942. Meetings still take place and are still surrounded by secrecy.