A Secret Tunnel Under Deansgate

When workmen demolished old houses in Cumberland Street in 1911, they came across an underground passage.  The Manchester City News reported that they found a tunnel with an arched roof, built of brick, wide and high enough to allow a horse and cart to travel along it. The men found that it extended for about 70 yards before being blocked by a brick wall.  A pedestrian route through the Spinningfields development now follows the line of Cumberland Street, close to John Ryland's Library.

                                                         The Cumberland Street site.
 
The Deansgate Tunnel has never been fully documented or surveyed and evidence of its existance and extent is based upon rare glimpses and hearsay. Its age is unknown but it is assumed to be between 200 and 300 years old. Its purpose is unknown. There are even suggestions that it might be Roman in origin.
The tunnel is believed to start near the northern end of Deansgate, close to the Cathedral and to follow the line of the road southwards as far as Knott Mill. Here the tunnel turns westwards towards Old Trafford.