William Lyttle

William Lyttle (* 1931 in Northern Ireland ; † 7. June 2010 in London ), called Mole Man of Hackney ( Mole Man of Hackney ) was a British eccentrics .

Life

William Lyttles House, 2009

At the beginning of the 1960s , the self-employed civil engineer inherited the house at 121 Mortimer Road in the London borough of Hackney, a four-story Victorian residential building with twenty rooms. He began digging tunnels under his house in the mid-1960s . Over a period of four decades he dug tunnels and caves with shovels alone, which extended up to 20 meters in all directions from his property and ran at depths of up to 8 meters below the surrounding streets, gardens and houses.

As the house itself fell into disrepair, Lyttle continued digging the tunnels. His activity was not hidden from the neighbors, but when asked about his earthworks, he always gave jokingly absurd answers; he never revealed his real motives.

Complaints from local residents to the district administration remained unsuccessful for a long time, even after Lyttle damaged a power cable while working and caused a power failure on one side of the street. Even when the sidewalk in front of his house sagged in 2001 and the 2.4-meter hole allowed a view into one of his tunnels, the authorities did not intervene. Only when the structural condition of the house led to safety concerns in 2006 were ultrasound examinations of the surrounding area carried out, which revealed the extent of the tunneling for the first time. In August 2006, a court order forbade him to continue digging. Since the house has meanwhile been classified as uninhabitable, and in order to effectively prevent Lyttle from continuing his earthworks, the district administration first quartered him in a hotel for three years, then in June 2009 in a community-owned apartment, upstairs as a precaution. The tunnels under his house had to be filled with 100 cubic meters of cement to prevent an impending collapse.

The filling of the cavities, the makeshift security of the building, the accommodation in the hotel and the clearing of the property of 33 tons of apparently randomly collected objects - among other things, the wrecks of four Renault 4s , a boat, dozens of televisions as well as refrigerators and bathtubs were found - incurred costs of £ 293,000 which Lyttle was to pay for under a 2008 High Court order . However, he died before the claim could be carried out. When his body was found, it was found that he had broken a passage in the wall between the living room and kitchen.

It was only after a long search that living relatives of William Lyttle were found. Since the relatives are not considered to be liable and the outstanding claims can only be settled from the estate, an attempt was made to sell the house and property. No buyer had been found by summer 2012; a demolition of the building was forbidden by court because the streets are under ensemble protection .

Web links

• London Evening Standard : Mole Man of Hackney leaves council in a £ 350,000 hole
• Daily Mail Online : Yours for a knockdown price of £ 500,000! The dilapidated home of 'mole man' who spent 40 years hacking out 60-feet of tunnels underneath up for sale
• The Independent : Meanwhile, the 'human mole' bites the dust
• The Guardian : After 40 years' burrowing, Mole Man of Hackney is ordered to stop
• The Independent : Mole Man William Lyttle's house: For £ 500,000, the perfect place for the downwardly mobile