why did they build the ones in Manchester?
Different tunnels for different reasons. (wow, never thought there would be so much interest in this thread
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The one I went into was a dissued underground canal linking the Irwell to the Rochdale canal so they didnt have to unload goods, transport them a few hundred yards and then load them onto another boat etc. A few decades later, the trains took over and transport by water was in much less demand, the tunnel became too expensive to maintain so it shut in early 1900's.
Then adapted and used as air raid shelters in WW2.
There are other, deeper tunnels..... Manchester's original streets lay pretty much at the level of the water line on the Irwell and each time the floods came, the streets and houses were just swamped. So the streets and houses were simply 'built over' to raise the level of the streets. The original streets and houses are still there.....doors and windows bricked up, but still there!
There are other stories that there was a tax on bringing cattle through the streets to sell at market (because they shat all over the road which had to be cleaned up..... so they were brought through tunnels from the river and taken to market underground to keep the streets clean and avoid paying the taxes!
if one were so inclined, could one find their own way into and around this place? or is a guide a necessity? also, can you let me know when the next tour is (secretly, like)?
Yesterday's entrance is only possible via one entrance which is accessed via a business premises, so I couldn't now simply go there tomorrow and say ''Can I go down there for an hour''. Although it was an ''undercover tour'' (no pun intended) obviosly this was done in arrangement with that business.
There were two tours (we left as the other came in) and the last one they did was Halloween so they are not that frequant. It was also free, so credit to the company for not charging...and the carpet was a bit messy when we came out!
The tunnels near the cathedral, entrance is via a manhole cover.... someone said yesterday it is quite prominant near the cathedral and you can tell it from other manhole covers. So you could simply do that one yourself if you wished, but if seen going down it, you can get into trouble for tresspassing. i'm pretty certain that is the entrance seen on the second tunnel on the BBC clip I posted on page 1.
In case of a nuclear war. Methinks..
The tunnel under Piccadilly Gardens is an (obsolete) nuclear bunker built for 200 people. The GPO have all their telecommunications cables and connections down there. because of this very few visitors have been down there. Rumour has it that there is one entrance (which I know is via lift in a building on Back George Street and then a long sloping walk) and two escape tunnels in different directions from the shelter.... both over a mile long
One is said to surface in Ardwick, the other in Salford near the old hospital on the Crescent
All of this (and there are more down there) is the reason why Manchester has never been able to have an underground rail system linking Piccadilly station with Victoria station.
Victoria station has the River Irk running underneath it as it flows into the Irwell.....but from the river's tunnel, there are two or three other shafts leading off towards the city centre. Since the station was built, the shafts were filled in. Recent excavations discovered lots of traces of coal in there, leaving experts to believe they were used to transport the fuel to different parts of the city.
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