Guardian telephone exchange

Guardian Exchange was an underground telephone exchange built in Manchester from 1954 to 1957. It was built together with the Anchor exchange in Birmingham and the Kingsway exchange in London – all believed to provide hardened communications in the event of nuclear war; as well as linking the UK government in London to the US Government in Washington, D.C. by means of a secure and hardened transatlantic telephone cable making landfall near Oban and running through Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham. Today, the underground site is used for telephone cabling. Constructed at a depth of below 35 metres (115 ft), the tunnels are about 2 metres (80 in) in diameter. The exchange cost around £4 million (approximately £126 million in 2015 prices), part of which was funded by the United Kingdom's NATO partners.

History

Construction began following the clearance of the land between York Street and Piccadilly Bus Station, for the building of The Piccadilly Plaza complex. The site was surrounded by high, wooden fencing and it was hoped that no-one would suspect that the 'foundation works' were taking an inordinately long time. Huge amounts of construction materials entered the site, over a long period of time, before any above-ground works could be sighted.

The Guardian exchange equipment was housed in two levels of tunnels beginning under the lower levels of the Piccadilly Plaza and extending south-west under the old 'Central' telephone exchange, on (New) York Street, and following the line of George Street into Manchester's China Town. A pedestrian staircase led down from the former telephone exchange, which has now been sold off as an office block. A large diameter, vertical shaft descends from an anonymous-looking yard on George Street, (See above photo). This contains a large goods lift and crane, by which all the equipment was installed and, subsequently, removed. In the event of hostilities, the shaft could be sealed by a huge, swinging blast cover. Two long cable tunnels lead east and west away from the main complex. The eastern tunnel terminates in the cable chamber of Ardwick Telephone Exchange, with a maintenance and ventilation shaft near to the junction of the Mancunian Way and London Road. The western tunnel runs under the River Irwell and terminates in the lower cable chamber of Dial House in Salford (the main central Manchester telephone exchange). This tunnel also has small, maintenance and ventilation shafts.

As well as the Trunk Telephone Exchange, the main complex also housed large diesel power generators, air scrubbers, sleeping quarters, kitchen, food storage and dining area and even a well furnished bar with Formica tables, banquette and stool seating, piano and pool table. Just as at the GPO Club, under the old Central Post Office in Spring Gardens, there were fake windows, with murals of outdoor scenes, to make it less claustrophobic.

External links

• Blog report on Guardian Exchange: Manchester's Cold War bunkers
• Video tour of the vast tunnels and shafts on YouTube
• Additional information and photos
• 39 page article for a local antiquarian society with context, history, map and photos
• Hidden Manchester post about the exchange, including a round-up of other resources, including images