We have been working hard over the last few months to empty the Basement area of Joseph Williamson’s house. Well the good news is that we have finally finished digging out this area. The kitchen is completely empty, clear of all rubble and is now looking great. You really can get the feeling of how big the house would have been in Joseph’s time. Whilst digging here, we dug out under the main stone staircase from the house, which revealed the former door way into another chamber that had been bricked up.

This chamber had never been visited by anyone but ourselves due to its awkward access. Well, having discovered the original bricked up doorway into this chamber, known as the Boiler room, we have now opened up this doorway once again. The boiler room, so called because the boilers to heat the garage had been fitted within. They had been removed, so that the arch above could be repaired, giving the arch its strength back.

This will enable us to take our visitors safely into this newly opened chamber. You can see in the photographs that the doorway into the boiler room is under the main staircase down the main house into the kitchen and then on to Joseph’s subterranean world…