Exploring a Drained Canal Lock 

I can’t believe they didn’t clean it while it was drained, absolutely mad

Gosh I would want to get down in there and look for cool stuff !! I live in the USA and when I go tubing down a river I bring my snorkel and goggles, I find old bottles, keys, sunglasses and a wallet with money and cards.....happily found the owner as it had only been in the river for 1 year ! So having a dry river canal with such history to explore would be amazing !

I can't get my head around how a bit of scaffold and tarpaulin can literally hold back millions of gallons of water like that.

That actors doing his bit (0:20 and then again from 8:40) to get across to us the feeling and worth of the 1800s, absolutely fabulous. It's lovely that there are people who recognise living history works so well to give us insights into the past. Thanks for editing them in Martin Zero

Ekki is red colour and hard as bell metal !! Used like Teak! .my Dad was in charge of the West bridgeford bridge repairs!. Used ekki as replaced foot ways! I have a bag of offcuts! I use for knife handles in my custom blades ! Its beautiful material!

Great video, again. Bringing history to life. What annoys me though is, money wasted on vanity projects by this and other governments and councils which could be used to dredge the whole of the canal system around the city centre. When I read that a couple of million was used on a bronze statue for a politician no one has ever heard of I think, money wasted. Dredged and clean canals would enhance the whole area. They stunk this summer in the heatwave.

Thank you so much for making this video, so informative and fascinating. I really enjoy your enthusiasm!!

my grandad was a canal boatman and would have traveled on this canal often, thanx Martin

cant believe they wont clean out the mess

Yes I went down there as well god we know how to dump rubbish in the canal lol another good film Martin

Another great Video Martin, thanks and keep up the good work

Your face Martin when the volunteer was telling you about the shaft down to the Tib. It fascinates me too especially when it’s opened the normally sedate Tib must really roar with that lot falling 20ft ! Great videos.

You're amazing!!! I smile all the way through your vids. I live in Cornwall but I'm a Manc through and through. Keep going lad. You're doing a fantastic job!!! 😀

Brilliant information Martin. Thanks a lot..

Interesting to learn about the different marks on the bricks. Lots of stuff in the canal. Great video. Thanks for sharing.

I don't ever comment on videos but I have to say this content is so cool man. The history that they tell is truly amazing.

What a fascinating and entertaining video! Thanks

I love seeing all the work that went into what so often people just walk by. On a good note,the public genuinely seemed to be showing interest.

I took a canal boat trip around the UK back in the '70s and I remember going through Manchester. I'm fairly certain we docked at the spot in 8:43 for the night. Great video.

Thanks for sharing your series of clips with us.. fascinating. I live in Birmingham, another City full of canals. You have sparked an interest in me and I fully intend to investigate the canals and hidden watercourses of 'Brum',

A basic but fantastic approach and look at the canal system. But I had to go back and look at the section 8:45 and think how beautiful this is! Just soo much history and richness in this!

Hi Martin....wow can't believe this is nearly five years ago! This was the first video of yours I ever watched and have really enjoyed watching your journeys of discovery. I notice you're creeping ever closer to that magic 100k subs mark....can I just say well done for not succumbing to what must be good offers for sponsorship. I presume one day someone will wave a cheque at you that big you'd be mad to say no until then thankyou .

Thankyou for sharing this video. Very informative.

Just came across your vids ...love old railway lines...keep the good work up ...very enjoyable 👍

An interesting video today, Martin. Definitely a great video! Cheers Martin!

Love the use of the footage of historical reenactors to put the canal into context for what it was for initially.

They should let self employed scrap metal collectors go in there and take what they can, since they don't want to spend the money to clear it themselves, and it's a shame we can't track down the people responsible for throwing rubbish in there and then dredge it and dump it on the driveways of the perpetrators to see how they like it!

Interesting video.Fairplay to da fellas who dig out da canals 200 years ago some men👍👍

I liked the info on Masons Marks and how they get paid.

The lock and canal system is absolutely fantastic. I love watching the video's on various canal boats plying the canals. I for one would have loved to volunteer to clean out those locks.

Another fascinating look at Manchester Martin, Really enjoying all your videos :-)

This was a very interesting video.....good stuff!

This came up in my recommended so I clicked on it as it reminded me when I spent a good twenty minutes looking around a drained canal in Manchester a few years ago. Turns out the canal is the same one at around the same time! Amazing video, subscribed 😊

Yes all the fish have been "moved" plot twist: no fish to begin with.

Start of the video made me laugh. The first Earl but quite a recent bike in the background. Back to future in Manchester lol. Great video though 😀

Another great informative video Martin! Excellent work matey.

It's brilliant when you are able to find someone who has some knowledge of the cannels

Excellent video, thankyou.

My word. So interesting. Thank you

Well I've learn something new today. Very interesting video, Well presented

Another good video,keep them coming.Best wishes from a fellow moocher.

I look forward all week to my Sunday lunch watching your videos. Always a pleasure! Your fan from Peru

Thank u Martin 4 this video, I hope that the Manchester authority do their best 2 keep it clean.

Very interesting as usual thank you from N.Z.

Brilliantly produced and interesting...

You rock,, great to watch 👍thank you 😊

I was born and grew up in Manchester. I live in the US now but as a little kid, I used to imagine what would be in there. Thanks for the video!

Great job again keep up the good work - it’s a shame they didn’t clean it imagine what visitors to our city think when they see the rubbish floating in the Canal?👍👍

Sad that the community couldn't get together and clean the canal with the authorities paying for the dumpsters to remove it.

The lad talking about the African wood is...quite attractive! 😄😉 Thank you for the fascinating story! 🤙🏼

Interesting video thanks for sharing 👍🏻

That looks quite awesome.

fantastic. cannot say any more than keep it coming

What a fantastic video. Great channel too mate. Keep it up. Today's kids need this kind of education. Cliff.

Hello Martin from down under in Kiwi land. I must say I enjoy watching your videos and where you go. What strikes me is that much of the hidden world under the brambles etc where it is not cleared away, I keep thinking this man needs a machete or at best a battery line strimmer those places are gems, I love it would be doing this sort of thing at an instant if I lived in the UK, so much old Victorian Archietecture and I think of those men that built those bridges and tunnels and all that brick work, are these places under some sort of care like buildings. I enjoyed the look at Clifton Collery amazed that that to is left to the wild, that big basin should be cleared of scrub, watching your videos I am truly in awe of what went on in the building of Britain and to see the canal where the Duke of Bridgewater got the coal from, those children to, A big thanks for such interesting topics.

It is interesting that this has popped up today for me, I'd walked along the Bridgewater Canal from Stretford to Castlefield to visit the National Trust's Castlefield Viaduct. Afterwards, I'd carried onto New Islington Marina and back down to the Rochdale canal to Castlefield.

They should consider using Australian iron bark for the gates, we build jetty’s and piers out of it and some are 100 years old in salt water too.

Fantastic video, loved it

Thank you Martín. I took your advice and just browsing through picking whatever takes my fancy.

Interesting video Martin. Cheers.

Good vid. Loving the channel. 👍👍

Fascinating fella! Subscribed!

It'd be messy to clear all that junk, but at least the muddy stuff could be purged down those old drain holes you mention, using one of those pumps and canal water from behind the work area. The metal stuff could then be picked up by a crane with a magnet, the ally cans saved, and the rubbish that remained'd be a smallish fraction of what you see, so not too expensive to dump. Another great video from you too. Subscribed and bell clicked.

Hopefully seeing all that garbage discourages people from tossing their trash

I enjoy these history clips.

another great video ! you do really good work dude keep it up !

That's how it looks under the water everywhere there are boats, in Houston TX a diving company that I worked for as a welder got the contract to remove a bunch of cars from the canals and the divers said there were hundreds of cars in the canals and the city of Houston eventually gave up because it cost to much time and money to remove them all and they are still there

How did I miss this video? I know I'm nearly 5 years late with this comment, but after watching your video and the response from the Canals & Rivers Trust, all I can say is typical. Here was an ideal opportunity to clean that long stretch of waterway, get rid of the silt that has built up and do a bit of good for the environment by removing scrap metal that actually pollute the canal system. But no, it costs too much blah blah blah. The money that could've been made from the scrap metal would've paid for the clean up operation. This was an excellent video Martin, and I apologise for not watching it sooner!

Hi mate these vids are awsome keep on exploring. Id love to join you lol

Another belter mate, loved it. Very interesting stuff. Nice to have answers on the tib trapdoor. I noticed Tib Lock 89 on the sign behind that guy near the end too! I wonder if they'll clean all that rubbish out?

Great vid and now I'm more knowledgeable. Cheers.

Absolutely incredible these silly POMS would go to the cost of fixing the lockgates after draining the canal section but not take the opportunity to remove all the toxic filth, muck and junk dumped in it.

👍🏻🙏 so freaking interesting.

This is British engineering to be proud of.

Hi martin I've just watched your video on the 200 year old trap door really was interesting fantastic how the wood looked after all the years under water see that you didn't like the pike much so all i can say about that is on your pike another great video all the best kevin ps last time you sent me a reply you said that I would like to explore the under ground tunnel under the iron works and i probably would see you later

So the gates had been done in 2004 and need replacing again??? Who was the contractor??????

another great vid martin 👍

Least they could do is clean it out first...disgusting!!!

this is what people in prison should be doing cleaning out canals, not playing playstation smoking crack

Liked so much!! Just had to translate, the whole video, into brazilian portuguese, amazing!!! CC in PT-BR. Thanks for the video Martin!!

Im always photographing the marks on stone, they fascinate me . I recently bought a book on Stone walls their history and styles.

Just wondering, how deep is the silt, mud and muck to the real bottom of the canal? Surely some one poked a rod or stick to measure?

Ekki Wood.... Ekki thump... X

The canal & river trust slipped up big time by not cleaning out lock 90 at Deansgate. Great video Martin.

Interesting video!

They couldn't even be bothered with picking up the big garbage, like the bicycle or umbrella? So much for the Canal & River "Trust",,, more like Canal & River "Turn-A-Blind-Eye" [EDIT] They are going through the effort to drain a lock section, and no matter how you look at it, that is the time to clean it out, even if its just the big stuff. Even if the trust doesn't have the manpower to do it themselves, There must be local volunteer groups or the Canal community themselves that would volunteer to help pick up the big stuff themselves. There is zero reason why the local city would not supply a dumpster bin or recycling bins for glass, metal, etc for this purpose! Has anybody even asked?

Another great video Martin!. Shame there was so much debris in there and what a missed opportunity to clear it out... Had the gates been replaced, its very likely they would have been made in our village (Stanley, Wakefield). I went on a tour of the site a couple of years ago and it was fascinating . I learned that my address has a canal connection - being named after a now filled-in lock which I knew nothing about! Keep up the brilliant work - I'm learning more about Manchester with every video you produce. I have no connection to the city but I am hooked to its history!

Great video Martin

Stunned fish. Like "...stunned from soup. Your knees will buckle!"

They spent so much money on that scaffolding. Skid steer with excavator could have clean that lock up in an hour or two. Great video

Great videos

Great video. The history is so dope.im so unfamiliar with the UK

I've got some friends who are in the midst of the paperwork to move from here in the US to go live on a house/canal boat in England. Maybe one day I'll be able to visit and travel your fantastic locks. :-)

Hi Martin Blimey look at all that stuff

Ekki thump! Great Video.

Very interesting Martin. I've been past this so many times. I don't know where you get your info from, but I do find it fascinating. Keep it up.

Great vid 👍 I live near Newton For Hyde train station & there is a stone retaining wall there for what I think was a goods yard & shed. I’ve always wondered what the symbols carved into the stone blocks meant!

This was really interesting. I was surprised at the larger items in there, even An old bicycle. Too bad it could not have been dredged and cleaned up. Should have had mud larks down there digging up all the treasures!

I came across your videos recently and find them very interesting, what with being a Manc lad myself. Bit of news that you might not have seen yet; A stretch of the Caledonian Canal has been drained out at Fort Augustus while they replace the lock gates. While it is drained they have opened it to the public. The story is on todays (10.03.2019) BBC online news. Just so you know.

Great Video.