Switzerland's authorities are committed to
protecting every citizen in the event of a national crisis. Instead of excavating vast communal,
subterranean cities that could house tens of thousands of people since the Cold War, the
focus has been on providing mini bunkers for all 8.5 million people in the country. There are now more than 300,000 of them
under residential developments and public buildings like hospitals. Didier has come to Andelfingen, north of
Zurich, to see just such a shared residential shelter. Growing up in Switzerland, in every building,
we have these personal shelters. He's meeting an engineer who's tasked with
building these private bunkers. Within the last 15 years, we built around
6000 large bunkers, up to 500 people. We still also build the smaller shelters. Around 30,000, I would say. We built this public shelter in 2006. You will see a lot of other similar to this
one. 36 people can go inside of this shelter. And they're supposed to stay how long inside. For at least 14 days with the necessary food
and water. Yeah. The room is just 20 by 30ft and entry is via
a concrete blast door weighing £2,000. That's basically the shelter. How? It looks like a dry toilet. No water inside because this would be a
weakness for the shelter itself. So it's not a lot of intimacy. Once you're inside, you are a mix with all
your neighbors and family friends and and you have to share this tiny space. Yeah, that's true. That's. There is even a second exit. Just for the worst case. You cannot reopen the blast door that's
always built in every shelter. No other country provides this level of
underground protection for their entire population. This is the Swiss concept in the modern age. It's part of the tradition. We have chocolate, we have banks, we have
the Alps, and we have our bunkers. For more than 80 years, Switzerland has
either built or adapted subterranean spaces to protect the safety of its population. The threats may have changed over time, but
the demand for protection and the country's commitment to remaining neutral during
warfare continues. Now, with access to more underground bunkers
than ever before, the Swiss are ready for every eventuality. Liverpool, the powerful trading port in
north west England. Iconic buildings line the waterfront of a
city steeped in maritime history. In the east of the city. Beneath the streets of Edge Hill lies an
underground world that's shrouded in mystery. Like the span. And the size is just crazy. How did it get here? It's the fact that we have so little
information. It's what drives us on to keep looking for
answers. And who built it. He was so secretive, burrowing away for 35
years. What secrets are a group of determined
volunteers still unearthing from deep within this extraordinary subterranean creation? We've come along. It's an uncover the
mystery. Mat, aren't we? In north west England. In Liverpool lies an underground world built
by 19th century tobacco tycoon Joseph Williamson. For 20 years, its enduring
mystery has intrigued volunteer coordinator Chris Iles. Well, I've always been interested in
underground spaces, manmade especially, and I've always been aware of the local legend
of Joseph Williamson and his tunnels at Edge Hill. Few personal details are well documented
about Joseph Williamson beyond his business and personal wealth. We do know he was a tobacco merchant and
landowner during the Georgian era. He moved to Liverpool in 1805 and lived in a
house up on Edge Hill, east of the city. In Williamson's day, the neighbourhood was
growing, lined by elegant houses with scenic views of the town and river. People called him the king of Edgehill or
even the mole of Edgehill. And I remember being intrigued by it and
wanting to know more. Joseph Williamson was in the tobacco
industry. He married the boss's daughter, made a lot
of money. He basically inherited the company and
became a very rich man. David Bridson of the Williamson Tunnels
Heritage Centre has researched the full extent of Joseph Williamson's wealth. So he was able to retire at the age of 49
with something like £400,000 in the bank. We've seen various estimates of how much
that would be worth today, but anything from 25 up to £50 million. What Williamson spent his life savings on
during retirement is the most intriguing part of his legacy. In 1805, Joseph Williamson bought up an area
of land that was uninhabitable, an abandoned quarry. The land around here had been quarried out
for sandstone as Liverpool grew and expanded. We'll never know what gave Williamson the
idea, but he hit upon this seemingly crazy idea of roofing them over. In the first of his rather unorthodox
business decisions. Williamson reclaimed the quarry land and
made it profitable again. He had pillars built into the quarry, lined
them with bricks and built streets and houses over the top. Although what he built below
ground would mystify the world to this day, and no map was ever left to show what was
now sealed beneath. Archaeologists and volunteers are exploring
this world he left behind. So we have these beautiful brick and
sandstone vaults, all sorts of sizes from a few inches across up to this one at 25ft or
purely to reclaim the quarry workings and create usable land. Nothing remains of the above ground
properties Williamson built apart from the facade of his great house. He was notorious for redesigning his homes
and making the windows larger and larger and infused similar quirks in the tunnels below. After he died in 1840, the caverns grew
derelict and were filled in with earth and building waste. But rumors of the subterranean spaces
remained a local legend. We knew of the existence of the chambers
beneath the buildings that were above. In 1995, the tunnels were rediscovered by a
group of amateurs, one of whom was Chris Iles. We dug down and we found this arch from above
and smashed through there. There was screams of joy when we found it. We found it. It was the start of an amazing project. The enthusiasts had no idea how deep the
tunnels were, and with no surviving map and no idea of how far they ran, it took them
ten long years to win permission from local authorities to excavate the mysterious
underground space. But the enthusiasts were about to face their
biggest challenge yet.
