Cath Carroll

Nuthatch or Chickadee. Typos. Mid-Atlantic Punctuation.

[Cath Carroll @cathcarroll]

Bold Street, Liverpool, early 1900s. Or last week, if you believe...

[liverpoolyesterday2yesteryear @scousegary1]

tate and lyle workers head for home

[Cath Carroll @cathcarroll]

@ManchesterRoman there goes the archive!

[Cath Carroll @cathcarroll]

Various locations 1970s 1980s

[Cath Carroll @cathcarroll]

@liznaylor1 Funny you should say that x

[James Dreyfus @DreyfusJames]

I just love this.

I love the professionalism & commitment of the dancers.

I love their determination to carry on through the most tragic moment of the dance.

But we all know everyone is watching the cat…🤣🤣🤣

[Cath Carroll @cathcarroll]

'He remarked that he had "found a taste for the thing" and simply kept going.'

[Knowledge of London @Knowledgepoint]

The "Mole Man of Hackney" was the nickname given to William Lyttle, an eccentric Irish civil engineer who spent roughly 40 years illegally digging a massive network of tunnels beneath his 20-room Victorian property in De Beauvoir Town, Hackney, London.

The Digging Obsession
Lyttle inherited the property at 121 Mortimer Road in the 1960s. He claimed his obsession started entirely by accident when he merely intended to hollow out a standard wine cellar. After completing that initial project, he remarked that he had "found a taste for the thing" and simply kept going.

Using only a shovel and a custom, homemade pulley system, Lyttle dug single-handedly for four decades. Over time, his subterranean excavations created a web of caverns and tunnels that reached depths of up to 8 metres (26 feet) and spanned out 20 metres (65 feet) in every direction from his house. One of his secret passages reportedly burrowed far enough to connect near the Dalston Lane railway tunnel.
Neighborhood Chaos & Eviction

Lyttle's unchecked digging turned into a major public safety hazard. Neighbors frequently complained that the ground was shaking. On one occasion, Lyttle cut off power to the entire street for a day when he accidentally struck a high-voltage, 450-volt underground electrical cable.

The council was finally forced to intervene in the early 2000s when the surrounding pavements and roads began to physically collapse and form sinkholes. A structural evaluation using ultrasound scanning revealed that his house was practically floating on a hollowed-out web of dirt.

In 2006, Hackney Council officially evicted Lyttle due to imminent structural dangers. When crews cleared the property, they removed 33 tonnes of debris, which oddly included the buried frames of three cars and a boat. The council filled the dangerous underground cavities with tons of solid concrete to stabilize the neighborhood.

Later Life and Legacy

Lyttle was ultimately ordered by the High Court to pay nearly £300,000 for the extensive stabilization repairs. Because he was banned from returning to the property, the council temporarily housed him in a hotel before moving him into a top-floor high-rise flat—specifically chosen so he could no longer tunnel into the earth. However, his compulsion could not be stopped; after he passed away from natural causes in June 2010 at age 79, authorities discovered he had knocked a large, tunnel-shaped hole right through the wall dividing his kitchen and living room.

Lyttle has since been remembered as one of London's legendary modern eccentrics, famously stating, "There is great beauty in inventing things that serve no purpose."

[Cath Carroll @cathcarroll]

Thornton St, Collyhurst, c.1930s-from Manchester Local Image Collection

[Cath Carroll @cathcarroll]

Trying to get some writing in before work but this thing keeps shunting everything off the table

[Róisín Murphy @roisinmurphy]

Still her. X

[Cath Carroll @cathcarroll]

@ManchesterRoman Aye, I'm back-- glad you had fun in Chicago!

[Cath Carroll @cathcarroll]

hells bells

[Danny Baker @prodnose]

How high is Rod on this?

[Kathleen @oldpicposter]

Liverpool- The 1960s

[Cath Carroll @cathcarroll]

@liznaylor1 couldn't decide on an outfit

[Cath Carroll @cathcarroll]

@liznaylor1 our retirement fund beckons! xx

[Cath Carroll @cathcarroll]

@Hairspital that was eons ago, how about that! I still have the Trout Box pics xx

[Cath Carroll @cathcarroll]

@caleb_crain glad it wasn't just me

[Cath Carroll @cathcarroll]

@muddlinleigh goodness yes

[Cath Carroll @cathcarroll]

@AndrewDrage it doesn't help that they make it with lukewarm water.