The Ramblings of Guise Dugal

In August 2006, I referred to a man called William Lyttle, who had been dubbed “The Mole Man” for his, some would say ‘eccentric’ behaviour. If you didn’t see it, it’s here.

Mr Lyttle, at the age of 75, was ordered by the local council to leave his £1m Victorian property, originally two properties that he combined in to one four-storey, twenty room home. The reason behind his eviction was down to his chosen method of home renovation, that of making an ever increasing basement under his neighbourhood over the course of forty years.

According to The Guardian newspaper at the time:

Since the early 1960s, the man who owns and lives inside the £1m Victorian property has been digging. No one knows how far the the network of burrows underneath 75-year-old William Lyttle’s house stretch. But according to the council, which used ultrasound scanners to ascertain the extent of the problem, almost half a century of nibbling dirt with a shovel and homemade pulley has hollowed out a web of tunnels and caverns, some 8m (26ft) deep, spreading up to 20m in every direction from his house.

Their surveyors estimate that the resident known locally as the Mole Man has scooped 100 cubic metres of earth from beneath the roads and houses that surround his 20-room property.

(Source: After 40 years’ burrowing, Mole Man of Hackney is ordered to stop, The Guardian, 08 August 2006)

The house itself was in danger of collapsing in on itself and the effects of his digging became apparent several times, from power outages where he struck cables to massive cracks appearing in pavements.

His efforts at creating a subterrainian kingdom in the outskirts of the capital city may have been rumbled eventually, but it certainly took some time and he has finally been given his punishment for his underground endeavours.

‘Mole man’s’ £300,000 repair bill

A pensioner who created a labyrinth of tunnels under his house over 40 years has been forced to pay £300,000 for repairs carried out by a council.

Excavations by William Lyttle, 77, who is also known as the “mole man”, almost caused the property in Mortimer Road, Hackney, east London, to collapse.

Hackney council evicted him in 2006 to allow work to stabilise the house.

The High Court ordered him to pay the amount within 14 days or the property could be sold to pay the bill.

It is understood Mr Lyttle inherited the 20-room four-storey detached property from his parents.

The house, which is dilapidated, could be worth more than £1m if renovated.

On Monday the High Court also extended an order which bans Mr Lyttle from going near the property to ensure he does not damage the restoration work.

Since he was evicted he has been living in temporary council accommodation.

In 2001, his digging led to a 15ft-wide hole in the public footpath.

Fiona Fletcher-Smith, of Hackney Council, said: “Mr Lyttle’s actions had led to his home becoming a danger to himself and to the general public. Making the property safe is a matter which has incurred considerable expense to the Hackney taxpayer over a number of years, and we are extremely pleased that the court has agreed we should be able to recoup the cost.”

Following the order, neighbour Dean Dawson said: “The council has been pussy-footing around him for years. They would just check that any work he did had the right planning permission. There has been a distinct lack of action. I’ve got every sympathy with him (Mr Lyttle). He’s just a bit eccentric and a bit of a recluse. But it does grate on residents when they’re told to take down satellite dishes and you just look across the road at all that he’s got away with.”

(Source: ‘Mole man’s’ £300,000 repair bill, BBC, 15 April 2008)

One of the things that really gets me is the total Britishness of the response from Mr Lyttle’s neighbour, in that despite a neighbour burrowing under the properties and communter area, the actual villains are the council for letting him get planning permission while they had satellite dishes removed.

Sometimes I get the feeling that if terrorists were to set off nuclear weapons in this country, decimating buildings, lives and power infrastructure, then we wouldn’t object unless it disrupted the buses and then we’d be vehement against the Government’s poor transport policies. Oh, and that they interrupted the TV with all those Protect and Survive films.