Door hidden by brambles leads to 200 year old (tunnels ?) Gas works remains
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- Опубліковано 5 лют 2025
- A door hidden by brambles leads to 200 year old tunnel's in Manchester. Apart from its not a real door, they are not tunnels and they aren't quite 200 years old. Rochdale road Gasworks was built in 1824 it was also known as the Gould street gas works. This victorian gas works provided town gas for the city of Manchester. Much of it now demolished there are some hidden remains left behind. These hidden chambers are a fascinating insight into an area of Manchester that has lain abandoned and undisturbed for years. The old gas works in Manchester took coal from the nearby Oldham road goods depot and treated or baked the coal in the absence of oxygen and made Coke a smokeless fuel. But the main product was town gas. This video is an urbex explore looking at the history of Manchester in the UK. Or the history of England.
Here is a link to the original video ua-cam.com/video/yANJ5RiGBLU/v-deo.html
its a fan :)
In reference to the gas works in Manchester, the old gasworks in Bolton, where I used to live, was pulled down decades ago. The place must have been just as contaminated, but that didn't stop the town building a housing estate on it about 10 years ago.
Lodz in Poland, was a village before being massive industrial centre. The, late communism and into post communism, many were demolished but now there is a massive program to save the old industrial buildings. They are huge by the way. Some converted to flats or other centres, museums, art centres and so on.
Great video martin as usual. My old stomping grounds of Collyhurst and Rochdale road. Grew up there and hated the place until the day I escaped! My dad worked at that gasworks, don't know what his job was or what year as he never spoke to me about anything unless I was in lumber, Lol. The banks of the river irk was a place of solitude and escape in my young years as I used to sneak out at 4.30 am in summer to watch the sunrise before the drudgery of the school day. The best part of the area was that I met my lovely girlfriend/wife by chance encounter at the junction of Cheetham hill road and Queens Road in 1967. I lost her after 53 years of a wonderful life together. I also had a school mate who lived at Alexandra place flats. I lost contact with him after I left school then met him one day and he was working at the bone works on Collyhurst Road, adjacent to Barney's tip., I sincerely hope he found a better position and had a better life after that. Sorry for the ramble, memories eh?
After reading your comment, I can relate very heavily on what it was like for you growing up where you did. Although I grew up many thousands of miles to the west of you in Homestead, PA a smoke filled dirty steel town just south of Pittsbugh, Pa USA. It was a place (like you ) that I could not wait to escape.
That was the early 70's and now in 2024 all the steel mills are , but time to time I return there to remind myself that I'm glad I got out.
Best Regards
I vaguely remember walking from Piccadilly to Victoria in the early 90's and the dour red brick Manchester that was still clinging on. When I travel through today and see yet another building site where yet another glass and steel ivory tower is accelerated towards the sky, I feel privileged to have at least witnessed the place when it was still just about a People's City.
The city has simultaneously improved and regressed in the 60 years I have known it.
There was very little night life in the actual city back in the 70's aside from traditional pubs, things opened up a little in the 80's but it was far from the pulsating nightlife city it is now.
I detest the skyscrapers but the rot of the cities old industrial heritage was even more of an eye sore so it needed to reinvent itself.
It’s a portable fan blower for the gas retorts.
I was pretty sure of this as well earlier comment on here as well a while back😊
Brilliant! It never ceases to amaze me how things that were constructed in bygone days still remain to be explored. This is testament to the skills of the engineers and quality of materials used at the time. I doubt that anything constructed since the 1970s will remain to be explored by anyone in 2070! Keep the videos coming!Thanks, Martin and team! 😀
I sure hope most of the eyesores from the 70's will be gone in 50 years
60s and 70s architecture was horrific but I've heard of a few places already being listen buildings for some strange reason, I guess it's still history, but it's not and will never be as beautiful as victorian and georgian architecture
We didn't build it the cities are very old and they ran on wireless electricity... when are people going to figure that out, only after earthquakes open it all up. It was mud flooded
Hi Martin great video as expected. I was a gas engineer in Manchester from 1974 based at Stretford, but spent some time at Gould Street. I have just shared your video with a gas forum I belong to. Will have to see if any old gas men can give anymore information
Oh that’s great thank you 👍
I remember the train line across rochdale rd.I worked for the NWGB in 1964-67 at Newton heath on Oldham rd,I often worked from Gould st.The old row of buildings facing gould st was where my Gran and Granded lived when they first got married.The Spread eagle pub was a bit higher up Rochdale rd near Rochdale rd mcr corp bus station.Gleden st Bradford rd was where the gasometer was,(one non collapsible,the other went up and down floating on water.They took a canary in the gasometer to check if it was safe to breath.There was Bradford pit at Forge lane,and the trains used to use the road for the steelworks.
Great video Martin!
I'm a New Zealander and I work with a great lad from Manchester! He's as funny as heck - really dry sense of humour - a real Northerner!
I love seeing videos like this! The UK is soooo OLD that you never know what you'll find - digging up a king in a carpark, for example!
It's cool man because I live in Shropshire in a victorian terrace house built in 1889 and it seems pretty new in comparison to a lot of places 😂, you should visit sometime!
That shake of the head when you were going under that girder cracked me up "look what they've talked me into doing now"
It's great that these places are being documented
thank you to all you lads
Yes, got to agree. They could soon be built over by 'affordable housing'. So much history, they do a great job.
Thanks for showing me my free hotel when i visit manchester next time.
@@patriciacollier128 This place is "affordable housing" as it remains. Too bad all the wrong people move in and "wreck everything".
@@paulanthonybridge5741all millionaires now £5000pcm to rent half a million to buy, it’s not the same
I really appreciate the historical detail you provide. Those scenes where you guys squeeze into tiny cracks give me an uneasy sense of claustrophobia. Thank you for taking the risks that some of us just can't do.
Another one of your classic Manchester videos, Martin. Can't get enough of these, especially with the industrial past like this old gas works that was. Many thanks to you and your team for going into those tunnels and filming for us.
Thanks for that Martin and pals,I am 84 years old and you bring back memories of bygone days,I was also fascinated by the Boutique Hotel you mentioned,looks loke a relic from the past that has survived,I can't find it on the Maps.Cheers,an old Mancunian.
At first I thought " 3 quarts of ale and a free coffee", not bad I thought. Then I replayed it, a free coffin !! Yikes!
BC was the initials of Bradford Colliery which manufactured the Bradford Fireclay bricks.
another cracking video, watching yourself and others like Paul and Rebecca, AdventureMe and many more is defiantly got me out more and with my camera to film my own local history. wicked sweet awesome video mate
Try wickedacorn
👍
And,
Trecking Exploration
👌
I worked there in the 80s Martin, there was a two story building built in 1980 on top of the old Gould st works, didn’t know what was underneath, I guess it will be very expensive to build property there, thanks for the video.
“Look at the girders on that!” 😂 my new favourite phrase
Cool video martin and gang ..oh my my heart Wasing my mouth when u went under those girders..you do take some risks...luv u guys best urban explorers ever....
Great video Martin and team. Big thanks to the Urban Legend for showing you the gas works underworld!!
I've just been back to rewatch your first video with Connor, it's well worth watching that one again, loved the music by "Martin" on that one!!
Seems incredible that the coat of arms is now at street level. Great find to see those rails uncovered. If they're going to build there they will need to do a lot of clearance work. I'm glad you have been able to go back to record it.
Be great to see you out and about with Connor again. Good luck from Spain!!
It's going to be apartments, that's what all the digging is for. Good to have videos like this Martin as it will all be built over and forgotten about soon.
Wonderful, fascinating. Glad it didn't involve water. And yes I have been send that rubbish about wining a prize as you mentioned is a scam. Thanks for presenting this.
Great work! That man Roy is fearless! Cheers!
Great video. Think I could spend quite some time exploring that place. Those spoil filled tunnels,were giving me flashbacks to before and during the time we were digging Paddington out, and other areas....
Thanks Martin, just shows that the very old structures from those days were built to last, another brilliant exploration. Take care and all the best. Stevie
Thanks!
Sorry to hear about James addiction I hope he gets better soon.😁😁🤣🤣👍👍 great video. I wonder if those cellars are the sink holes of the future.
Thank you for documenting this before it's all flattened. Great work
Thank you for the tour today, Martin. Very interesting to see. See you on the next. Cheers mates! 🇬🇧🙂👍🇺🇸
Good catch of the old Leyland Titan at 14:35! Such an icon, yet weird to think the gasworks was just closing down as that bus was built.
Fantastic ! What a place , every time you squeeze down those voids I hold my breath for you Martin , you'd never get me anywhere underground like that. A very mucky site , it must have been a hive of activity in it's heyday, all sorts of dodgy chemicals etc. still lurking about . Perhaps they are analysing the soil quality by digging test pits before they repurpose the site? Fascinating stuff, thanks again for a smashing video. P.S. I can't quite believe that it's 4 YEARS since the original video, it doesn't seem like that long ago ! Thanks guys
Fantastic ! Every time are lurking about I squeeze my very mucky voids I hold my breath for you Martin.
I thought it might be the university doing archeology they seem to be bang in on industrial manchester at the moment
Ok. The whole site must be, what we in the states call a brown field site. Old industrial site with loads of contanaments.
Town gas works were you took coal and heated it to drive off the volatile hydro carbons to be burnt in lamps and stoves in town. The nasty byproducts included loads of carcinogenic compounds, heavy metals, and Mercury / Arsenic. Back in the day, this stuff was just dumped along with coal ash and clicker from firing process.
You guys are taking a small risk exploring, but think of the workers who's lives were cut short by all that crap. Then again, they did smoke like chimneys and drink like fish in those days.
Really interesting- such a deep level of urban history to explore, many thanks!👍
Fantastic video i love learning about the relics of the past through your videos because they are so well made and presented. Thanks for putting in the effort for this video Martin, it looked like some graft climbing through those tunnels!
Martin goes exploring so we don't have too!😂 great episode guy's thanks!😜✌️
The blower was probably coated in a green paint that has decomposed too.
I wonder why you‘re not using a respirator in that dust. Get one with P3 rated filter mats and you‘re mitigating risks.
Amazing what you boys find and share with us. James is only doing half a job - no brew? Thanks boys!
I don't blame James for there being no brew. The jokes are getting a bit too much in my opinion. Seems a bit mean spirited at times ☹️
James is a big lad, I'm pretty sure he doesn't need you to leap to his defence.
@@Stormy_69 fekkin bollocks!!!
@@catzkeet4860 Look who's leaping! Fekk off.
As with most "Brownfield" sites I would think they are digging to take samples for testing, prior to redevelopment. An old gasworks site would be rather toxic, and cost a small fortune to clean, which is probably why it has been left as a car park for so long rather than build new flats/shops/offices on it
Another fantastic video. Just love the colour and brickwork. I had one of messages that said I had a gift. You never mentioned anything about it so I realised it was BS. Thanks for taking me along. Please take care
I used to live nearby and recieved a flyer showing how this whole area is being turned into a new part of the city dubbed 'northern powerhouse'.
Apparent £250m investment to build shops/high rise luxury apartments etc although it looks from this like they keep finding reasons someone hasnt built here before lol not sure those old girders could hold the weight of 40 story buildings....
Excellent video again Martin & co. How is it that you guys can take a hole and some mud, spot a few bricks and turn it into a fascinating video? I also love the humour/interplay between you guys. Keep 'em coming!
Hi Martin, Great video, I have been fascinated with the old gas industry of the UK. my town started in the 1880s, so there was not much to explore. Great update. Thanks for the video
Happy Easter 🐰🐣 Martin Zero & co. Enjoy your channel. It's almost as if I know you and your gang 😎
great watch, really enjoyed it martin so thank you and all the lads. Good on ya for showing the youngsters how its done...haha
Absolutely brilliant Martin. Loved the old ironwork. I think that old rotten machinery was a portable electric motor driven ventilation fan. Probably only of 1930s or thereabouts in terms of age.
Finally! A new video. Entertainment on a sunday evening.
16:54 it looks like there are rails either side of that hole which could be an inspection pit which would make that building a loco shed
Great Video Martin and Guys. I am also intrigued by the detail of your videos and how you educate us who view them. Best Regards from Chicago...
Excellent all round! I'm glad you got to explore it, Martin. Kudos to The Urban Legend UK I saw his video earlier. Cheers!
Thank you Martin . Your videos are the best. If you do a merch give away make It free beer and coffins😂😂😂 we will settle for a James brew up and more wonderful videos.❤
😃👍
Awesome so much history👍👌😊 And yes scammers are bad on here now.
Fascinating (again). So many places yet to discover if only you could access them. It's clear the Victorians built things to last. I wonder if modern industrial areas will still be discoverable 100+ years from now? Thanks for posting.
its a surprise if they last 20 years now
Another belter! Good to see you back in the motherland, martin!
on the trolly is a massive extractor vans used for pumping out stale air its drivin by the electric motor attached to it .. the long black extension lead for power....
Thanks Martin. I went back to the older video to refresh my memory. Both videos are great.
Fascinating stuff! Apart from the harzards of burrowing under brick arches and iron girders, I hope there were no toxic chemicals in all that spoil!. Another great explore! Thank you!
Happy Easter Martin what you like fancy missing that in your 2019 video of the gas works it was very interesting to find tunnels you went through thanks to the urban legend UK I watch his livestreams on a Tuesday glad you went back to the bits you missed good video m8 👍
💯💖👍
Very nice find Martin ,you need your bump cap in there.
Imagine finding an old worker from there to describe what is left
Nice1 Will😎 cheers Martin😎
Awesome video! Wonderful bits of history. Who knows how long they’ll remain. Those photos from the early 1900s too. Beautiful images. Top stuff Martin 👌🏻
Just found you videos through another You Tuber I am a great fan of, The Hull History Nerd. The piece of machinery you investigated is a trolley mounted, mobile electric blower, the blades are the impellers of a centrifugal fan, the metal casing on the top would be used to direct the air to a particular point, most of the circular casing around the impeller is missing, the other part, with the cable wrapped around it is an electric motor connected by a shaft via a reduction belt and pulley rig inside the casing. the long lead makes the unit mobile. At a guess I would say that this unit would have been used for cooling the retorts once the coal had given up it's gas.
I’ve been watching Martins vids since the beginning what’s surprising is he hasn’t reached 1M subscribers or a mainstream TV channel hasn’t signed him up. Every video a gem oozing quality research great use of maps photos. He is the very best of You Tube channels keep em coming Martin,👍
Now I can't get "Dirty Old Town" out of my head. Not the worst ear worm to be had...
Pure belting video. Love the way you clearly point out where you are on the old maps. Im a canal fanatic, but fairplay to you boss.
Fantastic job, mate...!
Wonderful stuff Martin. Thanks mate. James, looking professional as always cobber!
Quality bit of Mancunian urbex, that, Martin. Enjoyed every second of it.
“Look at the girders on that!” - classic comedy line 😂
Happy Easter 🐰🐰🐰 Martin!!
We Love James, i bet hes put that old Citroen train sign on his wall🤣🤣🤣
Love it Martin. 💓💓💓. 🙄. Pure Class and Style with the Subtle Music and all of that editing. Gorgeous filming. 😐
Fantastic work lads..👍👍👍👍
great video , cheers Martin , keep doing what u are doin , u are much appreciated
It looks like this area will be developed soon. Glad you were able to document this for future reference. Great video! 👍
Great video as ever. You even got a historical bus on the drone shot.
I clocked the building on Alexandra Place.
😉👍
I can remember the rails going across Rochdale Rd, I think until the early 70's.
Me too
Wonderful research and full of enthusiasm for the subject. Sometimes scary, but adventurous!😊
Brilliant, well with the wait mate
Four years ago??? My, how time flies when you are having fun. It's amazing how people live their everyday lives not knowing what lies beneath their feet. At 14:17 maybe some night someone might knock a hole in the wall using the cover of night, maybe??? Martin, I really wished I was there for this adventure, what a great day it must have been.
Another fab explore. So much history you are all keeping alive. Will look at your original video now . Thank you again for sharing these findings with us.
Now that’s a thorough and professional Easter Egg hunter! Happy Easter boys.
Thanks Martin and team, into another very interesting chapter of the forgotten past.
I worked for British Gas for ten years and we explored some bits but obviously couldn't go to far the grief wouldn't have been worth it. Its sad to see that he remains of the old gas works will disappear when the land is redeveloped for apartments but nothing ever stops still. Did you go in the Marble Arch Pub if you didn't you still missed something from the area lol
We know the Marble Arch well 👌
Great videos as always, keep up this great work. Very enlightening material.
Don.
brilliant and well done all of you all thats under our feet that we miss and you guys unearth it and bring it alive..
Great video guys you find the most incredible places to check out these place will be gone forever once covered up and in time people won't even know what under foot. The black and white photo's taking us back in time makes the video for me. Thanks for the explore guys and let's hope that James get's the tea and biscuits in next time. Happy Easter.
Thank you for mentioning the makers marks on those red bricks, I’ve never seen those before I wonder where they were made and at what year ? Very old .
Great video guys! Brill exploring and great drone footage!
Another cracking video. Must be time to venture West. Loads to see in Warrington Widnes and St Helens
Ha, had a mooch around there yesterday morning, didn't go in though! Great to see inside, cheers MArtin & co!
Most interesting this, I worked in the Area Offices here from them opening in 1981 to 1994. The remains were known about as they were uncovered during the new office development and all managers had instructions not to issue any entry permits to the old workings due to the contimated nature of the waste that still remained and they were eventually all seal up with keep out signage, but clearly not now but I expect that National Grid Properties would have declared the contamination when they sold the land to Manchester City Council. Waste contains sulphur, ammonia, tar and other coal gas prodution nasties including cyanide. Not safe in there and tempting as it may be best keep away.
Does the gas not escape?
@@leenevin8451 the gases may vent out slowly through the holes but the residual contaminants in the ground will continue to be released over probably quite significant amounts of time so there's always more. That's why clearing contaminated ground is such a long drawn out process and why the underground rooms were backfilled originally. A way to reduce the above ground contaminants and try to forget about the rest
@@dawnmoriarty9347 how many years were they in service?
Hello Martin and thank you for a great day again I thought it would be right up your street hope to meet you all soon for a🍻 pint or two💯💖👍
Decontaminating land seems a long and hard process. Back in 2000, I had many visits as a contractor to the British Library archive warehouse on the old Woolwich Arsenal site. The warehouse is a listed building and is an old munitions factory. The walls are many feet thick, getting slightly thinner towards the top but still about 2m thick. The roof is relatively flimsy so that if the whole place goes bang, it does so upwards instead of outwards.
Anyway, all around the building, there was development under way but they seemed to be just moving piles of earth around at the time for months on end. Afterwards I learned that this was the land decontamination process because clearly there were some nast chemicals involved in explosives manufacture and so the land was pretty nasty. I expect the land you were on in this video was equally contaminated, there will be a lot of work to do before they can construct modern buildings there.
As with all mining operations my main worry would be the radioactive bits of the soil combined with stagnant air in there making radon and similar fissile gases over the decades in considerable amounts but also imagine the amount of heavy metal salts that leeched out of all that coal and coke. As they also got rail deliveries the coal could have come from anywhere so it will be a wild mix of everything that exists as minerals all around lol. Good luck, have fun to the clean-up crew and their engineers in figuring this out
Good stuff Martin - on your aerial shot at 17:41 you can see the route of the old railway, might help you match up the location with the old map?
Fantastic, Great insight, good job buddy
Sunday nite martin zero class👍
I live in the Midlands and have only been to Manchester once but I feel I know the places not many people do unless they watch your chanel . Great stuff Martin. Love the banter between you and James.
Thank you Martin now crack on.😂
Brilliant video,you guys always have fun doing these
I love the vaulted ceilings it amazes me how they make them and how they stay in that position…. I just love history ❤ great video really enjoyed it x