The underground tunnels and passageways hidden below Manchester city centre

It’s no secret that, below the surface of the hustle and bustle of the city, Manchester houses a number of underground tunnels, passageways and deserted bomb shelters. 

For decades now, rumours and speculation surrounding this mysterious underground world have been rife, with many even venturing into the depths themselves.

There’s even an interactive ‘Hidden Manchester Map‘ – created by Mark Crossfield – which allows you to browse through the catalogue of tunnels and passageways hidden beneath the surface; if that won’t sort you out for those 2am internet binges, I don’t know what will.

Anyway, the map has opened my mind to a whole new underground world, so I thought I’d share it with you lovely lot…

Below and Beyond

The Deansgate Tunnel

The eerie Deansgate Tunnel was discovered all the way back in 1911 when a row of houses were demolished on Cumberland Street (where the elusive Spinningfields neighbourhood now stands).

The tunnel was supposedly big enough to fit a horse and cart through, and featured a massive arched roof and exposed brick walls – evidently, it wouldn’t look out of place in the Northern Quarter property market today.

It remains unknown as to who actually built the tunnel, which runs right down the length of the Cathedral to Pomona at the Ship Canal, with some believing it could date all the way back to Roman times. 

University of Manchester

Piccadilly to Victoria Underground Railway 

Disclaimer: There aren’t any actual tunnels from this… But there very nearly was. That’s close enough, isn’t it?

Anyway, over forty years ago, ambitious plans for an underground railway system not unlike London’s was well underway for Manchester; in fact, there have been at least six attempts to build a fully-functioning rail network beneath the surface.

However, despite the projects being far along with their developments, each attempt failed miserably, including a proposed line that would run from Victoria, underneath the Royal Exchange, under the Central Library, down Princess Street and finally onto Piccadilly.

The whole idea of an underground link was eventually shelved in the late 70’s, with four projects being eventually passed and transformed to above-surface roads, known today as Mancunian Way and the ‘Guardian’ a network of tunnels through the city to Salford.

The Manchester Cave

Nestled beneath the buildings along the River Irwell just a stone’s throw from Parsonage Gardens there lays the ‘Manchester Cave’, a mysterious and somewhat daunting underground abys. 

There’s not a great deal known about this so-called ‘cave’, though going by the YouTube video of some daredevil climbing down into it, it looks like the remains of an old underground construction site. 

Both unsafe and unnerving but, still, it made the Hidden Manchester Map so that’s all that counts.

Keith Warrender

Guardian Underground Telephone Exchange

The Guardian Underground telephone exchange was built way back when in 1954 as a result of ongoing fears regarding the Cold War nuclear destruction (we have it easy these days, don’t we?), intended to act as a safe communications network that could link with similar ones in Birmingham and London.

The GUTE is located a whopping 112ft below the city and, at one point, even managed to have it’s own supply of drinking water, as well as a number of bunkers to house people in the event of a nuclear war breakout.

The GUTE was never used (down to the lack of nuclear attacks, probably), but the tunnels still remain to this very day and are actually used by broadband companies like BT and Nynex. 

True British Metal / Flickr

Cathedral Tunnels

According to the Hidden Manchester Map, there are plenty of rumours regarding some undiscovered tunnels beneath the Manchester Cathedral that lead to a number of locations across the city and its outskirts.

A number of the passageways allegedly connect the Cathedral to pubs (God wouldn’t have approved of that) and, according to Keith Warrender’s Underground Manchester, a heavy door was discovered in the tunnel leading to the Castle & Falcon Pub in 1975 which contained a pile of skeletons and a passage which led to the cathedral.

Who else is going to have nightmares tonight?

Make sure to check out the Hidden Manchester Map for yourself here – it’s well worth an hour’s scrolling time out of your day, I promise.