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Liverpool has many abandoned excavations. Driving into the City centre from the south, along the road that eventually becomes the Dock Road, past the site of the derelict Festival Garden, one can see 'cliffs' of red sandstone, just inland of the road.
A chemical company, allegedly routinely disposed of out of spec batches by accessing a tunnel underneath their premises.
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Late reply, 28days later has good info on the Paris catacombs.
mespilus
sacredhart
@Oliver Schick
This is rather fascinating:
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/feb/06/beyond-kingdom-death-journey-subterranean-paris
I knew of the existence of these places in Paris, just not that the network was so big. London's obviously not bad in respect of underground places, but I suspect Paris beats it into a cocked hat. Of course, Paris seems to be built on solid rock as opposed to London clay, so quarrying that stone was rather obvious. There are UK cities with similar former mines under them; I think there are a few in Manchester, but I can't remember the names of the other ones I've read about.
I also love the name of the head honcho at the body that looks after the quarries--Alaterre, although etymologically it probably comes from something completely different, can be construed as 'at the ground' or perhaps even 'in the ground', although I'm not sure about the latter.