Explored in the good company of concreteJungle.
It appears that this watercourse was originally known as the Sheep Washers Brook, but has for a very long time been known by locals as the Devil’s Hole. Several years ago the sewer portion of the drain was given the name Shatterproof possibly because of the GRP pipe sections of the overflow.
Nestled in the upper reaches of the Medlock valley is this lovely old stone arch with a large grille covered with Ivy but also sanitary towels, wet wipes and bog roll.
Before venturing in to see what lay ahead, it was clearly evident that there was a CSO somewhere upstream.
A little bit of a limbo dance and we were on the other side.
It was just a short distance up the stone and brick tunnel until we found ourselves at the bottom of a tall chamber with smooth bedrock at the base of an 8 foot waterfall.
At the top of the waterfall, looking back down, you can appreciate the various construction materials of modern concrete, iron, stone, red and blue brick and a bit of wood for good measure.
From here we continued upstream where the red brick arch changed to a slightly narrower blue brick tunnel.
A couple of minutes walking and the beautiful blue brick gave way to a corrugated metal pipe intersected with a concrete chamber. Until now, there had been no flow in this drain but here, the gentle iron ochre flow from upstream dropped into a catch pit which prevented this dirty water entering the river.
After carefully assessing the depth of this pit, it was found to only be a couple of feet deep and the water was exiting to one side where pumps extracted it and presumably diverted it to a nearby sewer for treatment.
Heading north upstream, the stone channel ahead soon gave way to a rather nice brick pill shaped tunnel, the likes I’d only seen previously in the Hackney High Level Storm Relief (Bethnal Green Branch of the North Eastern Storm Relief).
Once we reached the end of the pill section, stone took over briefly then the next part became a rather crusty brick section.
It was only another couple of minutes before we found ourselves in what seemed an endless corrugated metal pipe that twisted and turned several times. Walking along this part was a pain and the bolts that hold the pipe segments together can easily trip you up if. In some places along this section, the water got quite deep as the pipe had not been laid to follow the gradient correctly.
Finally the CMP section ends and we arrive at a small chamber where a pipe joins from the side and step irons lead up to a manhole somewhere above. There is a very short bolted concrete pipe section before the tunnel changes to GRP (Glass Reinforced Plastic).
This GRP section hasn’t fared very well since it was built as it is fractured in several places and groundwater is piddling and spraying in from between the joints. We could now hear what sounded like a large sewer up ahead. The standard damp culvert smell had also taken on that distinctly familiar sewerfresh aroma too.
Further on we entered another but larger concrete chamber where a small watercourse entered from one side. The roar of the sewer ahead was now loud and before we knew it, we had reached a huge CSO chamber.
Both the chamber and the sewer running through it were considerably larger than I had been expecting to find. It was quite a surprise to see a 3.5m diameter trunk sewer at the end of this relatively unassuming culvert. In all honesty I was expecting to find a small CSO and then emerge back into the daylight. It was also a surprise to see such a big CSO that is not actively screened to reduce excessive sewer litter from entering the Medlock but simply relied on baffle boards at either sides of the overflow. For such a modern chamber it is unusual that it wasn't fitted with powered screens such as the popular Longwood Stormguard.
After breathing in more than enough of Oldham's shite mist there was however no way out here, so after taking a couple of quick photos of the sewer it was time to retrace our steps for what was perhaps about a mile before exiting the way we came in.
Hope this was of interest and thanks to CJ for joining me on another enjoyable trip below beautiful Lancashire.
It appears that this watercourse was originally known as the Sheep Washers Brook, but has for a very long time been known by locals as the Devil’s Hole. Several years ago the sewer portion of the drain was given the name Shatterproof possibly because of the GRP pipe sections of the overflow.
Nestled in the upper reaches of the Medlock valley is this lovely old stone arch with a large grille covered with Ivy but also sanitary towels, wet wipes and bog roll.
Before venturing in to see what lay ahead, it was clearly evident that there was a CSO somewhere upstream.
A little bit of a limbo dance and we were on the other side.
It was just a short distance up the stone and brick tunnel until we found ourselves at the bottom of a tall chamber with smooth bedrock at the base of an 8 foot waterfall.
At the top of the waterfall, looking back down, you can appreciate the various construction materials of modern concrete, iron, stone, red and blue brick and a bit of wood for good measure.
From here we continued upstream where the red brick arch changed to a slightly narrower blue brick tunnel.
A couple of minutes walking and the beautiful blue brick gave way to a corrugated metal pipe intersected with a concrete chamber. Until now, there had been no flow in this drain but here, the gentle iron ochre flow from upstream dropped into a catch pit which prevented this dirty water entering the river.
After carefully assessing the depth of this pit, it was found to only be a couple of feet deep and the water was exiting to one side where pumps extracted it and presumably diverted it to a nearby sewer for treatment.
Heading north upstream, the stone channel ahead soon gave way to a rather nice brick pill shaped tunnel, the likes I’d only seen previously in the Hackney High Level Storm Relief (Bethnal Green Branch of the North Eastern Storm Relief).
Once we reached the end of the pill section, stone took over briefly then the next part became a rather crusty brick section.
It was only another couple of minutes before we found ourselves in what seemed an endless corrugated metal pipe that twisted and turned several times. Walking along this part was a pain and the bolts that hold the pipe segments together can easily trip you up if. In some places along this section, the water got quite deep as the pipe had not been laid to follow the gradient correctly.
Finally the CMP section ends and we arrive at a small chamber where a pipe joins from the side and step irons lead up to a manhole somewhere above. There is a very short bolted concrete pipe section before the tunnel changes to GRP (Glass Reinforced Plastic).
This GRP section hasn’t fared very well since it was built as it is fractured in several places and groundwater is piddling and spraying in from between the joints. We could now hear what sounded like a large sewer up ahead. The standard damp culvert smell had also taken on that distinctly familiar sewerfresh aroma too.
Further on we entered another but larger concrete chamber where a small watercourse entered from one side. The roar of the sewer ahead was now loud and before we knew it, we had reached a huge CSO chamber.
Both the chamber and the sewer running through it were considerably larger than I had been expecting to find. It was quite a surprise to see a 3.5m diameter trunk sewer at the end of this relatively unassuming culvert. In all honesty I was expecting to find a small CSO and then emerge back into the daylight. It was also a surprise to see such a big CSO that is not actively screened to reduce excessive sewer litter from entering the Medlock but simply relied on baffle boards at either sides of the overflow. For such a modern chamber it is unusual that it wasn't fitted with powered screens such as the popular Longwood Stormguard.
After breathing in more than enough of Oldham's shite mist there was however no way out here, so after taking a couple of quick photos of the sewer it was time to retrace our steps for what was perhaps about a mile before exiting the way we came in.
Hope this was of interest and thanks to CJ for joining me on another enjoyable trip below beautiful Lancashire.
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