Manchester. The River Medlock Episode VII. Tunnels, Brooks and Bridges. 

👍😃

Thanks Peter yes its amazing that they face the river and no one sees them

Maybe they have that sad look due to the condition of the river today with all that junk in it ... ? Well. Maybe not. But one *could* argue that way.

So fortunate that the urbex gods chose to shine on this day. Chances of that happening eh!

A gift from above

an aligning of the planets 😀

being a child of the 60's cool the dinghy was called Stingray - on another mission

@@suffolksettler5106 When it arrived, it would have been a perfect time for the Thunderbirds theme!

Yes I remember the rivers back then. Looking down from Cathedral Steps was horrific. There were some lifebelts attached to the railings. I don't think you drowned, you dissolved. You could usually smell hops from all the breweries in the vicinity.

Poetic, Lovely. 👍💖

Thanks yeah great to see fish. Yep the Tib may pop up

Thanks, It took some organising 😆

The Pigeon said, "you shall not pass"

@@MartinZero "NONE shall pass!" Martin get's savaged by the pidgeon "'tis but a flesh wound"

​​@@garybroadhurst3548 and would have ended with Martin saying "Alright, let's call it a draw."

Thanks yes its certainly the alternative tour 😃

Dammit 😭

Hi Adelle and thank you. Thats interesting can you tell me where you get your info Id like to read up ?

Did you notice you could see past the mound of silt where the water was coming through? I’ll have to check again in case it was a trick of the light reflections but it only looked a few feet deep into the tunnel.

The silt near the Duke's entrance could have washed down from the construction site fill in .Back then , fill from excavations would not have traveled far . The first rule of material handling is don't .

I really like the extreme angle that Dukes tunnel makes with the river. It's nothing near a right angle.

Thank you Joe

Yes Roy we had to at least find out

When the boat was being lowered, I was so happy I actually got tears in my eyes. You are an amazing man. Thank you, from Texas USA.

@@sarahsmthrox Thank you so very much. Am glad you enjoyed it 👍😃

Thank you very much. Hope the explorings going well

Thanks very much Flo

Yes I think its years of impacted silt pity

I would have thought it had been done deliberately to stop any intrepid explorers from going in. It must be SO dangerous further in with the roof totally unmaintained for over 200 years and all the vibrations and settling from traffic, building work etc. The shape of the blockage does look similar to what Martin has found in old railway tunnels before, although I'd have expected more stone and brick if that were the case. I'd imagine the tunnel has been totally dug-through and blocked with concrete foundations in places, being so close to the surface... but then, from the earlier videos, the culveted Shooters Brook hasn't - at least for as far as the little robot got, so who knows.

Thanks Pete, thats interesting about the heads thanks

Thanks Simon

Cheers Joseph

Can you get a decent Foster's there mate?😉

@@English_Dawn If you're a tourist yes, locals don't drink the stuff lol.

Wow I never knew that thanks Robert

Thanks Peter 👍

No peas for me thanks

Wot, no mash?!!

@@cargy930 Ended up having some chunky chips.

mushy ones with mint sauce... lovely.

Thanks, am starting to like sewers 😃

That’s not a sewer technically, it’s a surface water drain. Sewage from toilets and the like isn’t discharged into rivers normally. If it was, the Medlock would be full of toilet paper, condoms and everything else that people flush down toilets.

It was when I was a kid

Thanks very much. I would have gone in if I could. Thanks for staying with me much appreciated

Dubmonkey87. Hi. We're sadly coming up to the bicenteniary of the "Peterloo Massacre" next month which took place within yards of this bridge and you can see the original bridge in that wonderful shot that people must have crossed to hear Orator Hunt on that fateful day. It started as a Holiday atmosphere in fields and ended so tragically. 😢

Sometimes true 😃

Some journalists in various places have tried it. Doesn’t always work but very often it does.

1- hi vis vest, 2- hardhat, 3- clipboard with paperwork. It's the passport to many restricted areas. A shovel is an option if paperwork is to difficult to keep dry, but a clipboard is more effective.

@@MartinZero I tried it. She knew I wasn't a gynecologist.

@@gteaz It was the waders - use trainers next time.

I'm thinking of the Dutch cap! Word association.

@@patrickmccarthy5462 Sorry?

@@English_Dawn it's a kind of barrier.

@@patrickmccarthy5462 Oh right, my earlier Flemish tunnelling proposition. 🙂 O think the tunnellers armed with candle and a pick would have need Dutch courage.😉

Thanks Mark, yes I am full of admiration and awe at these old forgotten things

Thank you, yes lovely little chub 👍

Sorry your right chub ! Not barbel 🙄

Any volunteers to clean it? Would make for an another film. Maybe the council would pay for a skip?

Thanks very much Kirk

Probably Pat certainly looks like em 👍

Thanks very much John and thats interesting

Thanks David

Thanks Ian, yes I have my version ready to be edited

Thanks very much, yeah its great being down there totally different perspective 👍😀

Thanks David

Thanks Leslie

Yes it was defensive at first when Agricola founded the city, the rivers Irwell and Medlock. Romans go back to Rome in the 400's. Saxons come, think they've found a better site for defence a mile upstream rivers Irwell and Irk. Upsticks from the Roman Vicus to the better site. Better still they find another watercourse the Hangan that effectively covers the unguarded side making the centre of Mcr. effectively an island. Rivers then lose defensive role and are used for power. They are used for transport but have a disadvantage in droughts they become impassable. Magnates get their heads together. Why not widen the Irwell, cut out the meanders and straighten it and for good measure put a lock down stream to make it navigable in all conditions. Result the Mcr. Ship Canal which serviced purpose-built docks the third largest by tonnage in UK by 1900's Comtainerisation comes and ship sizes increase, docks become uneconomic now BBC have their Northern Headquarters on the dock site, Media City. Rivers have been fundamental to Mcr and as a result are represented by the three stripes and ship on the civic coat-of-arms.🙂

Thank you Chris

Thanks Sharon 😀

Thanks Lance, yeah it took some planning 😃

Murphy's law.... ^^

Thank you David

Thanks Julian and greetings to Germany

Thanks Glyn

Thanks very much

Yes Chub

Thanks very much, I really dont know Fish

leave the fish alone

Ha more Bollocks deep water to come Rob 😃

Where you seeing this from Chris ?

Thank you Danny

Thanks Lee much appreciated

Thanks Noreen, yes that size of fish was a surprise to me

Next week 👍

Thanks very much Kevin

Thanks Dawn, I sold the boat for a canoe 😀

@@MartinZero ...no motor then? 🤣🤣🤣

Thanks Jack. Yes obviously I wanted an adventure down a tunnel but it is what it is. Bloody filled in 😃

Thank you

Marie Bartholdi!

Is the Stafford and Worcester nearby? A lot of canals where purchased by railway companies. Is the O.W.W. Railway near?🙂

Thats a shame so much we have lost

Thank you very much

Thanks Kev I appreciate that 👍

That would be a good idea and thanks very much

@@MartinZero buy a carbon fishing boom and mount a Gopro on the end.

Thanks Adrian, best regards to New Zealand

If he'd found it open you could have done the Hakka for us.😉

Thank you, thing about the Irwell its too deep to wade in

@@MartinZero more of a walk along the riverbank then, we dont want you drowning 😉

Thank you very much

I think over the past two hundred years its level has significantly heightened as can be demonstrated by Dukes tunnel. I think the cause was cinders dumped in the river

It does Frank

It does but the mystique survives😉 The "what if's".🙂

Ha, Brilliant Robert 😀

Yes, I have experienced that. They just don't get it.

Thanks very much Simon

Great, am afraid I dont know my fish

First fish I ever caught :D

Thanks very much Sam

Thank you 👍

It wasn't the only source there's a number of rivers that got the same culverting. That IS clean (relatively) you should have seen them before😉 Absolute Third World.

@@English_Dawn Sure I meant the only one right there obviously, there are a number of rivers in the city I was referring to just the area they are in. yeah it runs clean I can see that, again I was referring to the clutter and some of the silt, you'd think they would clear that occasionally?

@@Thunderer0872 You are right for a normal city or town. Problem is Mcr wasn't. It was Third World in it's rivers and open space. 30 years all its rivers were anaerobic and a dumping ground full of oil-drums and supermarket trolleys. If you had seen it then! Mcr and other Northern cities went South economically during the 1900's. Canals filled in tumbleweed on open space. Gradually Mcr. Council has had to be dragged kicking and screaming into line with what is expected. Mcr. as you will know never bothered investing in an underground and was very business orientated rather than people or the environment. It doesn't have the city-centre green parks London has. Next month sadly is the bicentennial of the "Peterloo Massacre" which was just yards away from Martin's programme. To see fish in those streams is gobsmacking there's not been fish in them for centuries. Mcr. is 3rd behind London and Edinburgh for tourism so you can says it's in their interest to clean up as tourists expect higher standards so hopefully they are doing it for environmental, civic, reasons but the fact that money is involved filling hotels, conferences etc it will drag the Council kicking and screaming to do what the rest of us has always wanted as environment was a complete disgrace. Thank you for your concern.🙂

Thank you

Lol we used to say that all the time as kids leg it. 😂.

@@chucky2316 So did we..... when your mate did something idiotic........... "leg it"

@@siypic another one was walking up to strangers and saying you dropped you're gay card lol

it just comes from using your legs lol

Thanks very much, yeah the Dingy from above was a good gag 😆👍

Which bit was that ...?

Foreshadowing

Yep, looks like the US cop car flashing light at a crime scene. XD

@@MartinZero The suspense is killing me :-D

@@MartinZero lose em, or warn.

Thanks Phil

I would of loved to have done that 😀👍

Yes me too. It would have been great if Martin could have 'legged' in, even just a few metres. Knowing how passionate he is about that particular place, I'm sure it would have been the highlight of all his exploring. I genuinely felt so sorry for him when we saw it had been filled.

Really 😆👍

Thanks James, thats great that your son likes the videos as well 👍

Thank you Karl

Thanks very much Paul

Thank you Jo

Thank you Steve very much appreciated 👍

Clear out Dukes tunnel campaign 😃

@@MartinZero I can't remember can you get into the other end of dukes tunnel?

Thanks Chris

Thanks Martin, be my guest. I will film you 😆

Yes! Do it !

Thanks Andy and yes I agree

Thanks Helena, that pigeon Kamikaze dived us off film 😃

Cheers Asif

Yes John I was so chuffed to see so much life in the River. I remember these rivers being shite as well

Thanks very much

Hope you enjoyed your filming. Mcr. Oxford Rd is made out of wood due to the Mcr. Fault lying underneath. As Martin says a number of watercourses wend their way towards it largely by the Medlock though there is the Corn Brook. 🙂

Thanks John

Thanks Caroline

Yes its great seeing fish in a once polluted river

Yeah cute pigeon 👍

Thank you Bart

Thanks Richy, yep despite the rubbish I think the water is quite clean

Thanks Marilyn really appreciate it

Thanks Teresa