A miniature house has been discovered hidden deep beneath a major UK city - and has shown signs that it was once used 100 years ago.
The tiny home can be found burried under Liverpool city centre and has been unknowingly overlooked by hundreds of commuters each day. The eerie property is said to be hiding by Liverpool Lime Street station on the way from Edge Hill. Finding an access point for the building has been considered as dangerous, because it has live railway tracks on either side of it.
Network Rail previously revealed that the house was built as a "mess hut", which is a room for workers to have their lunch in between their shift. Despite it being classed as a "little gem", it has remained disused for decades. Explaining the history of the property, a Network Rail spokesperson said in 2018: "In years gone by track maintenance gangs would have come here, they'd have had their lunch, a cup of coffee, lit the fire, and waited in between trains."
"We have no plans to do anything with it, it will stay here, it's protected beneath the tunnels and will remain locked in history forever more. It's difficult to see if you're a passenger on a train. If the light's in the right place you can just about see the outline of it but it's a little gem that's locked away and kept in the dark."
Benches run down both sides of the house, with a table in the centre and a fireplace used by workers to keep warm between trains in the winter months, reports Liverpool Echo. Engineers also found an old kettle, a cup and tongs used to move materials in the fireplace. When the ECHO was allowed to visit the hut in 2018, Network Rail was preparing for the second phase of an upgrade from June 2 to July 29, designed to allow Lime Street to welcome more and longer trains. However, the hut remained untouched as part of the works.
It's not the only piece of history workers have uncovered as part of Lime Street improvement projects over the years. In 2019 a historic piece of the station which remained hidden under passengers' feet for years was uncovered by builders carrying out renovation work. Three stone slabs which formed part of the original 1836 platform surface were unearthed during the £140 million upgrade of the station.
