Secret tunnels under Manchester

[Pistuphead]

Whats going on with the Wiki PoD? Have you got yourself banned from there too?

[Parrot of Doom]

Nope, its just fine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Cathedral_...

Look at the history and all the vandalism thats occured - that demonstrates the mentality of some of the people on 28dayslater, and possibly darkplaces too since I've also been banned from there.

I'm waiting for a nice day on which to visit Manchester and take plenty of pictures detailing the precise location of this area. I'm also going to ask the library for permission to include some of those pictures on the Wiki page.

[Pistuphead]

Oh, I thought you had been done for vandalising Wiki!

[Parrot of Doom]

I think that hole is this:

Edited by Parrot of Doom on Saturday 14th July 17:20

[hornet]

Nick_F said:

Parrot, you are an arse Thanks to you I spent bloody hours last night poking round 28DL, subbrit and various ROC sites and now I'm trying to think of reasons not to have a shufty at the ROC posts nearest to where I live this weekend. Give me my life back!!

Same here! I spent hours last night reading assorted "cranes and drains" threads on 28DL. Some of the images of the Westbourne and Tyburn are amazing. Rather them than me though!

I can sort of understand the attitude, to a degree. I'm involved in a hobby that is forever being misrepresented in the press, and the various social groups and net forums I belong to are very wary about "unknown" people, especially with media connections, no matter how innocent the enquiry. That said, there does seem to be a touch of "look what we've done!" arrogance surrounding urbex. Shame, as it's a fascinating subject.

Edited by hornet on Saturday 14th July 17:49

[PJR]

Theres a vaguely similar thing going on in Camden. Theres the "Camden Catacombs", as they are known. Looks like a sod to get into initially, As you need a boat.. Does look like an equally interesting place mind, as its been used for filming in I believe (the odd prop is still down there), amongst other uses over the years. Largely abandoned now of course.
Google for more information. But its on the 28days site too.

P,

[Chassis 33]

All very interesting! I've been involved in various projects across Manchester converting ex-textile mills and warehouses to modern day uses (residential mostly). One particular site near Picadilly Station there was two stories of basement and the lower basement had something like a 2ft thick steel ceiling dating back to its use as a WW2 bomb shelter. I'll try and dig some photos out from the archives. If I can help PoD or anyone else here let me know, most of my work is on listed buildings so have contacts for planning and conservation officers at MCC.

Regards
Iain

[dilbert]

Looks to me like those vaults have been put there so that the area is not prone to flooding.
The floor inside can't be much higher than the level of the canal.
Either way, I can't imagine the cost of repairing those vaults, and I can't imagine that the brickwork is going to last forever.
Is the cathedral built on top of all that? I suppose I would anturally assume that the cathedral was there before ay of the rest?

[Parrot of Doom]

Its actually the River Irwell but I'll forgive you because Manchester is a maze of canals and rivers

Cosmetically they'll be in pretty bad condition, but fortunately the council will have been looking after them and keeping the brickwork in good condition so I think structurally they'll be quite alright - they've been there over 100 years and they look nice and dry from the photographs.

The Cathedral predates the stages, so they won't go underneath it. They obviously connect to a public toilet, and I believe that public toilet is one that used to occupy a space outside the Cathedral, where exactly I'm not certain but its probably on the east side of Victoria Street.

I've seen the river get pretty high, but never so high as to start flooding.

Edited by Parrot of Doom on Saturday 14th July 21:19

[dilbert]

Parrot of Doom said:

Its actually the River Irwell but I'll forgive you because Manchester is a maze of canals and rivers

Cosmetically they'll be in pretty bad condition, but fortunately the council will have been looking after them and keeping the brickwork in good condition so I think structurally they'll be quite alright - they've been there over 100 years and they look nice and dry from the photographs.

The Cathedral predates the stages, so they won't go underneath it. They obviously connect to a public toilet, and I believe that public toilet is one that used to occupy a space outside the Cathedral, where exactly I'm not certain but its probably on the east side of Victoria Street.

I've seen the river get pretty high, but never so high as to start flooding.

I did wonder if it was a river or a canal. I thought I'd read it somewhere on the associated pages but couldn't remember. The waterway being a river does make more sense, given the location and situation. What's on the other side of the river, I guess the ground must rise.

It's interesting what you say about the Cathedral, because looking at the situation of that lot, it would appear that the entrance to the cathedral is at the mezzanine height. I think I also saw a drawing showing the tunnels underneath the cathedral.

It wouldn't surprise me if the statements on 28DL, were exaggerated in their extent to make them look more impressive, but I'm guessing that the cathedral is built to the edge of what was the river, and then those tunnels extend to the edge of the river now, where the stages are.

On a similar theme, I used to commute daily into London by train. It never ceased to amaze me how the victorians used to level vast tracts of land with brickwork. Certainly if you come into say London Victoria by train, huge areas are supported on brick arches.

I always wondered how long they'd last, and what they'd cost to replace!!!

Edited by dilbert on Saturday 14th July 22:49

[minimoog]

Parrot of Doom said:

I think that hole is this:

Not so sure PoD - here's the same photo with the brightness cranked right up. There's no sign of the bricked-up arch in the exterior shot. In fact I can't see any arches with a single small square opening in the exterior pics so far.

[Olf]

I didn't think it was that hole either. I think it more likely that it's the one on the extreme left of this shot:

[sjn2004]

Just posted some of the "ye olde secret tunnel" photos on 28DL, will be funny to see how they react as its my first post there. It also took 24hrs to register/activate, seems that once you register online, they are manually checking all new registrants before allowing you to post.


Has anybody actually been down on site yet?


Found these old maps of 1889; look how its changed but you can still see the "super secret" location

Edited by sjn2004 on Saturday 14th July 23:02

[dilbert]

I suppose a multimap link might be useful....
Manchester cathedral

[Parrot of Doom]

The thing about the external shots is that they're not new - the council have recently boarded up that door (as shown in the 28dl photos), and the vents.

All will become clear when the sun comes out, and I venture into Cottonopolis to take some up to date pictures!

Anyhow I've been a bit busy today:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:...

Edited by Parrot of Doom on Saturday 14th July 23:03

[dilbert]

Parrot of Doom said:

The thing about the external shots is that they're not new - the council have recently boarded up that door (as shown in the 28dl photos), and the vents.

All will become clear when the sun comes out, and I venture into Cottonopolis to take some up to date pictures!

If they block up all of the holes, there will be no air circulation, and the brickwork will deteriorate further. They'd be mad to make it worse than it is now. If they want to stop people getting in they'd be better off using metal grilles than brickwork infill.

[Ricardo G]

Really interesting! I live in Salford Quays and used to row along the canalways from the Quays (a year or so back now)! A great way to get down and under all those bridges.

If anyone is wanting any photos taken I'll walk down and get some, just let me know the locations. Like the odd adventure (I'm sure I'm the kind of interested onlooker that the other site wants to discourage) but let me know as this is fascinating.

Popped over to the Imperial War Museum (North) the other day and there was photos of that whole area bombed to the ground during WW2. Would be interesting to look at those pictures again with this new insight. Maybe worth a look if anyone is that interested.

Rich

Edited by Ricardo G on Saturday 14th July 23:15

[Parrot of Doom]

Ricardo, they're in front of Manchester Cathedral. If you stand on either of the 2 bridges in front of the Cathedral and look back, you'll see the arches. It would be great if you could row down there I know the draught is deep enough, they've had narrowboats that far up, although it gets too shallow once you're past Trinity Way bridge.

[Olf]

Parrot of Doom said:

Ricardo, they're in front of Manchester Cathedral. If you stand on either of the 2 bridges in front of the Cathedral and look back, you'll see the arches. It would be great if you could row down there I know the draught is deep enough, they've had narrowboats that far up, although it gets too shallow once you're past Trinity Way bridge.

Kayak. The ultimate exploration tool.

[sjn2004]

As a side note, I found this site with various maps about workhouses and "Epileptic Colonies". Seems in 1906, if you had epilepsy you were sent away to live in a colony. If you look at the "inmate" list, some are labelled "lunatics".


EDIT, forgot to put the link in.

http://www.workhouses.org.uk/index.html?Prestwich/...

Edited by sjn2004 on Saturday 14th July 23:43