The
Manchester Guardian's original purpose was to resist a Hiroshima sized 20
kiloton atom bomb, and preserve essential communications links even if the
centre of Manchester had been flattened
It is (now) an underground telephone exchange in the centre of Manchester.
The
main tunnel, 300m by 7m, lays 34 metres below buildings in Back George Street,
linking up to an unmarked surface building containing the entrance lifts and
ventilator shafts. A mile-long tunnel runs west to Salford, and a thousand-yard
(700m) tunnel runs to Lockton Close in Ardwick, where a ventilator building
marks the south-eastern extension of the Manchester tunnels.
In the
event of an attack, Guardian's main entry shaft was to have been sealed by
a 35 ton concrete slab that could be positioned over the entrance. People
could escape either by using a built-in hydraulic jacks to lift the slab some
weeks after attack, or via the deep level tunnels to Ardwick and Salford.
Emergency stores contained six weeks' supply of food rations, and Guardian
had its own artesian well, generators, fuel tanks, and artificial windows
and scenery painted onto walls.
The exchange was to survive even if the city it served was destroyed.
The tunnels still exist today, but are sadly forbidden to the public.
The
brooch pin with detachable ear piece is made from (oxidised) silver, steel,
nylon and concrete. The form is taken from the (rare) maps of the tunnels.
Its detachable silver ear piece is representative of the communication cables
that now run through the tunnel - and its blackened body, the use of steel
& concrete are symbolic of the tunnels structure. There is also a cut
out ‘window’ in the piece, but this is also filled with concrete,
just as the fake windows are within the tunnel itself.
The jewellery piece along with the accompanying sounds will be a reminder of the futility of war and the fragility of life
Click the earphones to listen to the sounds of war & chaos. It lasts for 3 minutes
