northcave
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Manchester Cathedral Steps
The Cathedral Steps were wooden staircases that descended from street level on Victoria Street in Manchester, to landing stages built into the embankment of the River Irwell, and finally to floating moored platforms. The purpose of the steps was to allow fare-paying passengers access to Steam packet riverboats which provided tours of the River and also travel to other towns in the area, including Barton, Lymm, and Liverpool. The steps were so named due to their close proximity to Manchester Cathedral.
Some that the landing stages once provided access, via tunnels, to the Georgian streets which still exist below the modern city, streets that the Victorians covered with the present street level.
During the Second World War, the stages and the tunnels surrounding them were converted into air-raid shelters. The steps and landing stages have been closed to the public for many years. In 1935 less elaborate steps were in place, and some of them remained until 1971.
The Cathedral Steps were wooden staircases that descended from street level on Victoria Street in Manchester, to landing stages built into the embankment of the River Irwell, and finally to floating moored platforms. The purpose of the steps was to allow fare-paying passengers access to Steam packet riverboats which provided tours of the River and also travel to other towns in the area, including Barton, Lymm, and Liverpool. The steps were so named due to their close proximity to Manchester Cathedral.
Some that the landing stages once provided access, via tunnels, to the Georgian streets which still exist below the modern city, streets that the Victorians covered with the present street level.
During the Second World War, the stages and the tunnels surrounding them were converted into air-raid shelters. The steps and landing stages have been closed to the public for many years. In 1935 less elaborate steps were in place, and some of them remained until 1971.