Explored with concreteJungle.
It was as long ago as 2009 that I first visited Bradford with Little Mike to see what lay below the city following the course of the Bradford Beck.
14 years later it was largely the same which in many ways was a shame because one of the things that I recalled was just how polluted and filthy this watercourse was.
I had hoped that it might now have been somewhat cleaner but in all honesty was perhaps even more polluted than it was in 2009. Outside central Bradford, the Beck is now perhaps a little better cared for in terms of organised litter picks and sewer overflows being monitored for dry weather flows etc. However within central Bradford where we explored the largely culverted (and thus hidden) watercourse, the Beck is in pretty disgraceful state.
I’ll apologise about the quality of some of the pics as this was a bit of a rush job. I’d have liked to have spent more time on some of the shots to get the lighting right but there just wasn’t the time if we were to see as much as we did. If I lived in Bradford, I’d be down here quite a bit!
We began our journey near the Forster Square Retail Park and headed upstream.
What I love about this culvert is the constant variation in construction styles, materials and features.
After a little while we arrive at what is known as the Cathedral Arches which lie roughly below the Town Hall on Norfolk Gardens.
Here another tunnel, leads south the section known as Academy. It’s not far upstream here that the tunnel splits into two and becomes annoyingly stoopy for a couple of hundred yards or so which my back doesn’t appreciate at all.
A bit further up, the tunnel returns to a square shape again before taking the form of an 8ft RCP.
This leads to a junction with stairs leading upwards to the left. At the top of the stairs is a smallish brick pipe straight ahead and a watercourse flowing from the right. I believe this could be the Bowling Beck but I could be wrong. Above ground this is roughly on Gordon Street.
Heading back down the stairs and continuing south, we dodged water pouring from a pipe at an inconvenient angle and eventually found another staircase.
At the top of these stairs, were another set of stairs which opened up into a large CSO chamber. Here another small watercourse joins. Perhaps this is the Bowling Beck? This chamber is located below Mill Lane near Ludlam Street.
I now remember this chamber from my visit in 2009
It was unlike any I had seen before and indeed since. It’s a two part CSO and this part is the secondary section. Unfortunately, it looks like it could do with some attention as filthy water is stagnating behind the weir when it should drain away and return to the sewer after a storm event.
These next two pics show what it used to look like, as you could climb over into it and walk further upstream to a huge primary overflow chamber. You can see one of the drain holes in the floor which I suspect are blocked with debris. The motors to the powered screen are quite rusty too which makes me wonder if this powered screen is even operational these days as I doubt these places get inspected as often as they should.
From here it was a good stroll back and another stoop until we returned to the Cathedral Arches again to continue upstream of the Beck where the culvert splits in two.
Hundreds of large tyres and other assorted junk lined each side of the culvert. Someone must have had a field day slinging all that lot in there.
Further ahead, a modern addition had been made. A pair of slippery blue oval plastic sections of pipe set into concrete, made for an interesting part of the culvert to negotiate without us getting wet.
Shortly after carefully making it through this bit, we were out in the open and it was clear this new addition was reinforcement work required for the construction of a new building above on Quebec Street.
CONTINUED IN NEXT POST:
It was as long ago as 2009 that I first visited Bradford with Little Mike to see what lay below the city following the course of the Bradford Beck.
14 years later it was largely the same which in many ways was a shame because one of the things that I recalled was just how polluted and filthy this watercourse was.
I had hoped that it might now have been somewhat cleaner but in all honesty was perhaps even more polluted than it was in 2009. Outside central Bradford, the Beck is now perhaps a little better cared for in terms of organised litter picks and sewer overflows being monitored for dry weather flows etc. However within central Bradford where we explored the largely culverted (and thus hidden) watercourse, the Beck is in pretty disgraceful state.
I’ll apologise about the quality of some of the pics as this was a bit of a rush job. I’d have liked to have spent more time on some of the shots to get the lighting right but there just wasn’t the time if we were to see as much as we did. If I lived in Bradford, I’d be down here quite a bit!
We began our journey near the Forster Square Retail Park and headed upstream.
What I love about this culvert is the constant variation in construction styles, materials and features.
After a little while we arrive at what is known as the Cathedral Arches which lie roughly below the Town Hall on Norfolk Gardens.
Here another tunnel, leads south the section known as Academy. It’s not far upstream here that the tunnel splits into two and becomes annoyingly stoopy for a couple of hundred yards or so which my back doesn’t appreciate at all.
A bit further up, the tunnel returns to a square shape again before taking the form of an 8ft RCP.
This leads to a junction with stairs leading upwards to the left. At the top of the stairs is a smallish brick pipe straight ahead and a watercourse flowing from the right. I believe this could be the Bowling Beck but I could be wrong. Above ground this is roughly on Gordon Street.
Heading back down the stairs and continuing south, we dodged water pouring from a pipe at an inconvenient angle and eventually found another staircase.
At the top of these stairs, were another set of stairs which opened up into a large CSO chamber. Here another small watercourse joins. Perhaps this is the Bowling Beck? This chamber is located below Mill Lane near Ludlam Street.
I now remember this chamber from my visit in 2009
It was unlike any I had seen before and indeed since. It’s a two part CSO and this part is the secondary section. Unfortunately, it looks like it could do with some attention as filthy water is stagnating behind the weir when it should drain away and return to the sewer after a storm event.
These next two pics show what it used to look like, as you could climb over into it and walk further upstream to a huge primary overflow chamber. You can see one of the drain holes in the floor which I suspect are blocked with debris. The motors to the powered screen are quite rusty too which makes me wonder if this powered screen is even operational these days as I doubt these places get inspected as often as they should.
From here it was a good stroll back and another stoop until we returned to the Cathedral Arches again to continue upstream of the Beck where the culvert splits in two.
Hundreds of large tyres and other assorted junk lined each side of the culvert. Someone must have had a field day slinging all that lot in there.
Further ahead, a modern addition had been made. A pair of slippery blue oval plastic sections of pipe set into concrete, made for an interesting part of the culvert to negotiate without us getting wet.
Shortly after carefully making it through this bit, we were out in the open and it was clear this new addition was reinforcement work required for the construction of a new building above on Quebec Street.
CONTINUED IN NEXT POST:
Yeah huge shame to see all that rubbish, very shameful
