William Gawin Herdman (also known as W. G. Herdman; 1805–1882) was an English author and painter, known for his scenes in the Liverpool area. Herdman was a self-taught painter who started sketching in his early teens, documenting the city of Liverpool, making notes about how the city and its buildings were changing as the city grew. Herdman painted around 2,000 water colours of Liverpool scenes which were included in the book, “Herdman’s Liverpool” which appeared in several editions after his death in 1882. "Born in Liverpool in 1829, William married Elizabeth Munro in 1852 and had at least four children. He was a fine artist, but did not achieve the same level of success as his father, possibly lacking his self-belief and flair for promotion. His accuracy of representing locations can be confirmed with maps and Gore's street directory." Father and son painted numerous watercolours of Liverpool and Wirral, depicting the area from the late 18th century, often copying earlier works, through to the 1860s. They also record street furniture, people and fashions. W G and William Herdman recorded everything in a fast-changing Liverpool. As soon as they heard any area was to be cleared, they were out there painting. That's how we are so lucky to have illustrations of everything from St George's Hall to Cumberland Street's long-lost slums. Herdman's paintings provide a 'snapshot' of our region that rival's any modern photographic record. In this article we have an excellent selection of Herdmans work, which was put together by Kevin Keegan, from 'Yo Liverpool Forum' , who provides the descriptions
Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. ~Chief Seattle
This is interesting, as Joseph Williamson died in 1840.After acquiring the land abut 1805 he first started to build houses. The vast amount of tunnelling in a relatively short period of time, without the use of mechanical diggers is quite remarkable. They are still finding items now as they continue to unearth. Picture by Herdman painted 18yrs after Williamson's death. So the tunnels must have just been abandoned. I wonder if they have found any skeletons down there.
Mason Street, Edgehill. Showing entrance to the excavations for tunnels made by Joseph Williamson. 1858.
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Last edited by granny; 14th Jan 201510:59am.
Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. ~Chief Seattle
For anyone interested in a more recent pictorial record of Liverpool I can recommend "Ainscough's Liverpool", ISBN 1 872568 64 5 A marvellous collections of photographs from 1966-68. The very first picture is one of Central Station. This is the cover.
Last edited by chriskay; 15th Jan 20152:23pm. Reason: Added pic.
With reference to the mention of the Williamson Tunnels , and the fact that there isn't a topic on the Williamson Tunnels (Liverpool) I thought my comments would be better placed on this page.
Anyway, having just watched a programme on BBC2 about the Romans and their building of Rome, having the most amazing tunnel type structures , still intact, for a vast sewage system, it brought to mind that maybe Joseph Williamson was trying to do the same thing.
Joseph Williamson being a philanthropist may have been building a sewer system for the people of Liverpool not just an aimless project to occupy the people .
Maybe the different levels could have been for the different levels of street. I think parts of Liverpool such as Toxteth were quite undulated at that time and I understand that some of the tunnels also headed towards the river. Nice exit for affluence.
The only thing that is questionable, is the fact that someone must have thought of this before but has obviously dismissed it. Do you think it possible ? These pics have a similarity, Rome and Williamson's,Liverpool. I wonder if he ever went to Rome.
Rome
Rome
Williamson
Williamson
Last edited by granny; 27th Aug 20159:02pm.
Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. ~Chief Seattle
The land was previously small quarries that were worthless as they were too expensive to infill. Williamson realised that if he bridged over the quarries he would create high value development land after paying very small amounts for the land.
Quarries in the past were often leased by the square foot, for this reason they were often small narrow holes but very deep, an example can be seen at Ben's Quarry in the woods at the back of Helsby hill.
I'm sure there is a thread somewhere when the WikiWirral Team went to help dig out the Williamson Tunnel's, a hard but very enjoyable experience.
We don't do charity in Germany, we pay taxes. Charity is a failure of governments' responsibilities - Henning Wehn
The website constantly refers to him building and constructing tunnels. However, I understand what you are saying so my theory is completely wrong. Never mind , God loves a trier.
Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. ~Chief Seattle
The myth built up about his philanthropy because nobody could understand why else he built the "tunnels".
Various grants were available for the opening up of the tunnels because Williamson was believed to be a philanthropic patron of Liverpool.
However comprehensive research by Gerry Lucas and David Bridson came up with the following:-
Quote
“We suggest that the tunnels were wildcat sandstone slot quarries providing dimension stone for some of the grand buildings of the expanding and rich mercantile Liverpool and that Williamson saw an opportunity to develop land on the hill by building a system of arches that covered the slots and then provided the foundation for urban housing. In effect, his business acumen produced one of the earliest and most profitable forms of quarry restorations.”
This was debated at Edge Hill University in 2012, I have no idea of the outcome but I assume their evidence was fairly compelling and their paper can be viewed HERE
We don't do charity in Germany, we pay taxes. Charity is a failure of governments' responsibilities - Henning Wehn
Yes, I had read about the debate, but also read somewhere else that there was no conclusion .
This is of interest : Painting by Herdman of :
Inscribed on mount: "Grove Street and Oxford Street, The old Water-course from Mosslake." Inscribed with signature and date in lower left corner of the sheet: "Mosslake Bridge 1863 I.McGahey
Whatever this man was, he must have spent a fortune on keeping the brick works in business.
Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. ~Chief Seattle