Little piece of history is returned to region

Aug 9 2006 Wirral News

A LITTLE piece of history wrapped in a pocket-handkerchief has returned home to Merseyside after 70 years.

Civil engineer John Lees, who was born in Birkenhead, took a memento as the final pieces of rock fell when the Queensway Tunnel linked Liverpool with Birkenhead.

He carved the 6cm rock with his initials and wrapped it in his handkerchief, on which he wrote Mersey Tunnel, March 11, 1928.

He died in 1959, but grandson Keith Maddocks discovered the timepiece, and said: "I knew what it was straight away as my grandfather had often talked about his work on the tunnel."

John Lees was one of the 1,700 men employed on the project.

Around 1,200,000 tons of rock, gravel and clay were excavated using 560,000 lbs of explosives during the construction.

Five years after the breakthrough, on July 18, 1934, King George V and Queen Mary performed the official opening ceremony.