De Beauvoir Town - Notable Residents

Notable Residents

Edmund Gosse, the poet, the son of naturalist Philip Henry Gosse

De Beauvoir Town was home to William Lyttle (1931–2010), a retired electrical engineer known as the Mole Man of Hackney. Mr Lyttle dug a series of tunnels under his property on the corner of Mortimer Road and Stamford Road. In 2001, his tunnelling caused an 8 ft (2.4 m) hole to appear in the pavement on Stamford Road. Reports that the tunnelling had started again in 2006 were confirmed when Hackney Council found a web of tunnels and caverns, some 8 m (26 ft) deep, spreading up to 20m in every direction from his house. In August 2006, the Council succeeded in getting a court order banning Mr Lyttle from his property. Mr Lyttle died in 2010 and the fate of the house, now derelict and needing a new roof, was thought to be uncertain. The house was auctioned on the 19 July 2012 and sold for £1.12 million.

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