Von Blucher, Cateaton Street

Victoria Arches / Cathedral Arches / Steps. (c) geograph.

The Victoria Arches (or Cathedral Arches / Steps) beneath Victoria Street leading to the River Irwell at Hunts Banks are now well known thanks to urban explorers and underground experts such as Keith Warrender [1].  

Victoria Arches / Cathedral Arches / Steps. (c) I_glass at flickr / urban-photography.co.uk.

When the Arches were being constructed as part of the creation of Hunts Bank during 1838-1840, one of the last works was to adjust the road level of Cateaton Street and change what was a sloping entrance to the Arches into a stepped entrance.  In 1842, the lease held by the Von Blucher public house expired which enabled the Manchester Improvement Committee to purchase the pub and knock it down to improve the line of the street [1].  

Possible former location of Von Blucher, Cateaton Street. (c) googlemaps.

As such, the Von Blucher - named after Gebhard Leberecht von Blucher who fought alongside the Duke of Wellington in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 - isn't recorded on any of the 1849 maps and their Slater's Directory extracts.  Its precise location was probably on the corner of Cateaton Street where the building on the right in the above shot is.  The Arches can be seen below Cathedral Approach in the centre and left - all were bricked up long ago but that's not stopped explorers who have found other means of gaining entrance to the hidden labyrinth below.

1. Below Manchester, Keith Warrender (2009).