Exploring an Abandoned Canal Near Manchester
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 5 фев 2025
- Join me on a whistle-stop tour along the abandoned Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal, as I try to uncover some of the rich history along its route through the Irwell Valley - including coal mine disasters, historically significant listed structures, and huge collapses of the canal itself.
Starting by the banks of the River Irwell in Salford, my journey takes me up the valley - through Pendleton, Clifton, Prestolee, Nob End, Radcliffe and Bury - along a canal in need of rediscovery.
If you like the video you can show your support by buying me a brew. Thanks!
www.buymeacoff...
Follow me on Facebook : @BeeherenowUK
Interesting. I would like to see you and Martin Zero team up.
Thank you. This canal is a very worthwhile candidate for restoration. The good news is that a lot of work on it has taken place since I walked a lot of it a few years back, including the new basin at the Salford end, and the clearing of undergrowth concealing the locks at Prestolee.
the imposing looking house at nob end in frame 10,03 was a pub years ago, its name was the nob inn!
I'm from mexico and I live in Bury, I didn't know there was a canal to Manchester! It will make for a good walk on the weekend. Thanks for the video.
Great! Enjoy, I hope the weather is good 😊
Hmm an due a freak of nature it’s always hot am sunny like cacun people say lol 😂
Cool,enjoyed that 🫡✌️
Really interesting as an ex coal miner from Leigh and liveaboard narrowboater nice to see/learn something more about my local past and interest in canal life
"Found my love by the gaswork croft
Dreamed a dream by the old canal
Kissed my girl by the factory wall
Dirty old town, dirty old town"
The canal was apparently the start of the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal.
Used to cycle around there, sometimes to and fro work in manchester. Amazed me how a colliery and everything (multiple power stations) were effectively 'gone' unless you looked closely.
The line about watching the (railway) line on fire was from Salford where Sulfur spilled from the chemical trains and was lit by friction of the following train. The Gasworks gate was also Salford ... Regent Road!
@@totherarf see.. I thought it was Liverpool Road ? darn, the gasometers were still there last time I drove past :( .. probably when it was written the gasworks spread between the two!
www.google.com/maps/@53.481126,-2.2759306,3a,62.3y,234.87h,96.72t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s4yznQQ0KWmFkHXXWok_Ywg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
Was only recently I found out it was written for a play ,Landscape with Chimneys ..
I ..love.. that song :)
We went to an open day at Bootle St police station some years ago and I bought a book on this canal, written by someone who was an apprentice. It covered from joining as a lad, up to it closing after the breach at Nob End. The chapter on the ice boat was interesting as they used to sink it every summer to stop it drying out, then raised it for use ready for winter ice breaking. I worked at Frederick Road bus depot in the 70s and never knew I passed over a canal every day!
Fishing, canoeing, cycling and walking. use it or lose it folks, don't let it disappear altogether..
Absolutely smashed this one. New dog walking route. Thanks
That's brilliant. I walked that route a few years ago and found it very interesting so it was nice to watch your video and reminisce. Actually where you start was still filled in and only the wall tops were visible so it's nice to see it in water again. Thanks.
Another great video mate
I've ridden it about 100 times, and it changes every time. Loads of history and scenery, with side routes to explore. It's gentle off road terrain for a bike, and an adventurous explorative walk; scruffy nearer Manchester, but very nice from Prestolee onwards towards Bolton or Bury.
Yeah I did down it again the other day actually and it looked completely different! Very nice at Prestolee!
I had a book on this that I bought from an open day at Bootle St police station, written by someone who was an apprentice. I worked at Frederick Rd bus depot from 1976 until it closed and never knew I passed over this canal until I got the book
Excellent
27 years I've lived in Bolton and still chuckle at Nob End. Some great vids on this channel too, subbed 👍👍
Only yesterday I did a 11 mile walk from Clifton country park that included a significant section of the canal. Included both aqueducts, nob end locks and the steam crane. I made the walk a loop by returning via the old railway from Radcliffe to Clifton (Outwood trail). Thanks for the info
great video mate.
did the top end of this walk today (Fletcher's canal section in Clifton) and gona be doing this stretch next week!!
Fantastic!! Hope you get good weather! It's beautiful around there
Did you really have to mention the huge gash just past nob end? :)
Great video. Thanks very much! This is exactly the reason why I watch RUclips - to find "golden nuggets" of independent videos like this covering local history. Thoroughly enjoyed - will check our your others now too!
Great Video... There are some interesting features on the Bolton arm, remains of the old aqueduct and the still in use road bridge over the canal both in Darcy Lever. Albeit once you reach St Peters Way all remains are long gone.
Great video, love exploring canals, think the "lost" one's are increasingly important.
Good video on much needed subject, very well presented and researched. At 50 its saved me finding it myself.
Thanks glad you enjoyed it!
50 is still young enough to explore about though
Great video. I discovered your channel through the Manchester Ship Canal video a week ago and I've watched almost all your videos since. Quality stuff! I particularly enjoy your historical walking/cycling trips, like this one, the ship canal one and the Upper Mersey trip, but your videos about the history of Manchester, the railroad, the canals and the trams etc. are all very interesting and well made as well. Keep up the good work!
Thank you very much. I'm very happy you like them. They are a bit of a mixed bunch
@@BeeHereNowuk I don't mind that at all. It's all centered around one thing anyway, which is Northern England. If you were all over the place geographically as well, maybe it would be different. But so far there's not been a single boring video on your channel, so it fits me perfectly. I do hope for more adventure and exploration videos though, like the one in the Manchester Ship Canal, Upper Mersey and Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal ones. They were brilliant.
Now I've watched all your videos though, so I'm not sure what to do with my time. :(
Great to see the Bury branch. As a kid I would walk to Elton Reservoir, by the Irwell and over the canal from my grans on Radcliffe Road.
did this walk about a month ago great to see someone else has done this .
Always wanted to go to Nob End, brilliant video.
One of my favourite bike rides. I always have a little chuckle to myself when I pass through Nob End😂
Enjoyed this very much. I have walked from Ringley to The Meccano Bridge and also down the Bolton arm til it ends . Thanks
What a great video, I stumbled across it whilst looking for cycle routes from Bury to Manchester that mostly avoid roads. Instead I got some free education. Cheers.
You can cycle along the canal all the way to Pendleton in Salford. That's a big chunk of the distance.
Ollie, another great watch, you really have a way of pulling in the viewer into the story. Also in your narration I like the fact that you talk "to us" and not "at us."
Fantastic Video.
When you did your talk about motorway bridge if you had clambered through the fence behind you, you can still see remnants of the canal. Sewage works didn’t completely remove it.
Brilliant, all memories from my younger days where i used to dos around all them canals in Clifton, Ringley and around the locks at Nob end 😀. I live in Ireland now so it's great to see these places again, well done and keep up the good work. Just one thing, if you could help me with, I'm thinking about doing a couple of my own videos regards to some historic places in Ireland and was wondering if when you use say a bit of info or picture from a book to show what the area looked like in the past, do you have to inform the publisher of the book that you intend to make a video that will include one of their pictures or can you just go ahead and maybe mention the book at the end 🤔
Thanks mate.
I grew up in Kearsley and often played by the canals in the early 60's. Thanks for bringing back the memories, but so sad to see the dereliction. The lower 'Ringley' canal, especially, was beautiful in those days; reed fringed, full of fish and bird life and just a lovely place to be - even for a lad in his early teens. I do hope the restoration goes ahead. I'd be more than willing to help, but I now live in Newcastle upon Tyne!
Cracking tune on soundtrack and all
Great video, Ollie! Old canals are so interesting. More, please!
Enjoying most of your videos; I'm from south of England, have never been to Manchester & only to Liverpool once. So it's a real eye opener for what you're showing us here. Great stuff ;)
You should head over to the northeast to Newcastle upon Tyne . We have a lot of history here along the Tyne . You could cycle down the Hadrian cycle path to George Stephenson Cottage where he was born starting from Wallsend lots of history 😁👍
Our heritage !! Should be re dug and cleaned up by the long term unemployed.
Very interesting I like the Meccano bridge, guess what is still in water will remain as a linear nature reserve. I suspect the only boats back on there would be canoeists
Another great video which was a joy to watch. Informative, interesting and well constructed. The only niggle is that I would have liked to have seen more of the Meccano bridge at Nob End ( but looked it up anyway). Thanks
Cracking video and new subscriber here. Looking forward to more. 👌
Love your video's Ollie, super interesting and your enthusiasm is infectious - thank you
I will add I live the other side of the hill in Holmfirth but if I could suggest a place to visit is the Manchester to Sheffield line via woodhead, super interesting and such a travesty its no longer in operation.
Really enjoyed watching that. Great visuals along with a very interesting and informative commentary. I've never walked any part of this disused canal before but it's definitely now on my near future 'to do' list. It looks kind of ugly, mean and beautiful - in a Greater Manchester sort of way, although I'm sure the countryside section to Bury was quite delightful. Maybe I'll walk it on a rainy day to experience the real soul of it lol. Great video!
Nice one thank you! Definitely worth the effort. It gets more and more beautiful the further along you go, but like you say even the ugly mean bits are beautiful too.
Very interesting indeed.
Hi, brilliant video. Would love to know the history of the abandoned canal, leading from crime lake, near daisy nook, in woodhouses?
Ah! The Hollinwood canal. Also under restoration.
There was still a rotting barge on the bury canal somewhere what we used to climb on when we was kids
I remember the barge! Played on it many times.
@@ivandavies1388 used to just have to push them cotton wool plants down we called em has kids lol to get over the water . Has it deffo gone now ?
@@CM-1723 I must confess that I don't know, I haven't been on that stretch of canal for 30 plus years! 😁
I remember one of my friends telling me it was a sunken pirate ship, though I am not certain what a pirate shop was doing on the Bury canal 🤣
Shop? Shop!
Really enjoying these videos, makes you realise how, over the years, we have allowed infrastructure to decay when we should have worked harder to re-purpose it
good as allways thanks
Yeah, definitely look into the Hollinwood Branch of the Ashton Canal running from Droylsden to Hollinwood thru Crime Lake. Also the Bardsey Branch of the same canal. Remains of the coal tipper near the junction of both branches.
I've done that walk twice now, and only got as far as Ringley. I really need to do a packed lunch and go further!
Thanks for another great local history video, enjoyed that. Might have been nice to have the speeded up bits shown a little bit slower to allow us to better take in the views.
Really enjoyed that. I always find it a bit sad to see abandoned engineering projects which were so solidly built, such as the locks at Nob End. Maybe we're better nowadays at understanding progress and impermanence. Great content anyway.
Another great video 👌🏼
For many years I was a member of the MBBCS, did you think about contacting them?
Well done
Great work
Recommendation if you can get to it. There is a grade 2 listed steam engine at Mount Sion. It got converted in to a waterwheel beam engine when it broke as a steam engine. Its in Radcliffe. Its at the back of the Sion Anglers club
That canal section near the Ladyshore colliery used to be luminous orange and green with pollution, it was thick and looked like you could walk on it. There was also an incredibly rusted dredger half sunk near the steam crane along with an oily turquoise sheen sitting on top of the water. They've cleaned it up quite a bit but I still wouldn't like to fall in.
Another interesting video. 👍
Hi, if you carry on to Burr's country park you can follow the MBBC feeder canal to its source of the Elton reservoir. The park itself has some fab industrial archeology .
You missed the Damside aqueduct remains on the way to Bolton and the hall lane and foggs lane aqueducts remains as well. But your vid would have been an hour long lol.
Hey thanks for the tips! I'll take a look.
Any part that I can kayak on the canal
Sorry to seem like a stalker our kid but I not got much else to do. ...your video standard is brilliant and I love your enthusiasm and dedication
Thanks man. You're a gent
Great vid pal..
"It's nice to see this in a derelict state, before it gets taken over by people" ---- ahhh! music to my ears!
Prestolee locks are two staircases of three, not three of two as you stated, with a pound between the two staircases.
Nice video. Subscribed and shared!
Thanks my friend! Much appreciated!
I went to The Derby High School in Bury and part of our cross country route followed the canal. Full disclosure: I would wait in the railway tunnel and have a smoke. Only did the full route if Jameson or Stainton was following us 😁
It's the nightclub still there? Benny's? That was canal side wasn't it?
Was thinking of sailing my rubber dinghy down the canal but after watching this video I think I'll pass. Good video. Entertained me
Great video
Personally, I'd like to see you do a video about the Derwent valley and dam construction.
Hey mate great video I suggest you take a walk up to rivington pike near bolton would make a great you tube video
Thanks. That's a good idea, I'll check it out!
Such a shame that the canal is no longer properly maintained and navigable.
No need to credit Paul Hindle for the photo of the Prestolee Locks. This photo belongs to the collection owned by Steven Parker who is the founder of the Manchester, Bolton, and Bury Canal Society. Paul Hindle is using it without authorisation from the person who owns the original negative.
It's a crying shame to see the dereliction of such great assets! Restoration of other canals have fostered the growth of a massive tourist industry... More investment is required before these great relics are lost forever!
Assuming it's still there you'll definitely see "Exploration of the M60" videos in years to come. You have to remember the canal was the motorway of its day - the quickest way to get goods down the Irwell Valley - and there's no way 19th-century Ollie would have gone near the canal unless he was working on it!
Have you done a video of Pomona palace on Pomona island near Salford quays
martin Zero has done this .Here is link#history #manchester #stories
Manchester's Lost Island of Pomona
Are they restoring the canal. Would be great if it was possible.
They've been trying to raise interest and funds for years. Hopefully it will be restored in the near future because its such a beautiful canal.
It is under restoration. See mbbcs.org.uk
Would give the long term unemployed something to do 👍
I'm a bit wasted at the moment so forgive me if I'm repeating myself but I going to do a history of the Manchester ship canal and when I do I'd appreciate it if you could give me some advice on how to go about things and maybe to a collaborative? I know you've done Latchford viaduct and if you don't mind revisiting it I'd love it if you would do that episode with me
Grrat video but you really need to sort your sound levels out. it's very loud on the music and very low on the talking . literally going. up and down with my remote on every section to make it watchable.
Show us where the mines were. I want to gerrinto them there things.
Pity you missed Rhoes lock giant seat lock and Ringley locks
I take it the bits you cant see are still there but covered over?
Some of it is filled in and hard to trace but most of it is still there and visible without looking too hard!
@@BeeHereNowuk you would think they would have just covered it and let be instead of filling it in
Would love to see you explore the Bridgewater canal.
Make a video about the source of the nile.... by bicycle.
Pucker factor of 1 million for the boatmen when the bank collapsed.
Just thinking, If you, Martin Zero and Ant "Trekking and Towpaths" got together for a video. It would be the best of the best. Just thinking............
Subbed
Nob end locks lol
Be good to magnet fish there
That needs magnet fishing
flying through google ..not knowing where Im at ..Nob End ..sorted lol
Haha thanks
How my time can he shoe horn in Nob End in and keep a straight face 😉
It aint abandoned but okay
but why is it called nob end? lolol..
believe it or not there was a Pub there (the building is still there but is now a cattery) the name of the Pub? the Nob Inn,,I kid you not had my first underage drink in there in 1961.
@@cliffthewanderer9969 I was going to mention the Nob Inn but you beat me to it 😄
Isn't that the collective noun for residents of Little Lever? 😋
Prefer old money!
I think you should grow a bit of a beard and get a trendy haircut, maybe shaved tight on the back and sides with a little tuft on top.
Haha! Will do, though my beard comes and goes and the hair does what it wants