Vitros was the trade name for the North Staffordshire Brick & Tile Co. Ltd. at Chesterton. Recorded in the Staffordshire Potteries Directory for 1868, this extensive works closed in the 1970's. They produced blue bricks, copings, pavers & plain roof tiles.
I just love the side by sides. There's so much that used to be there that isn't today and there's tonnes of examples all over on these maps. ENDLESS FUN :)))
I was expecting some sort of underground chamber at the far end, where James would be waiting supping tea and handing out the hob-nobs! As ever, glad you're doing it Martin - so I don't have to.
Martin! The places you go to learn about what goes on below ground and to bring us Sunday night entertainment! I don't know how you sleep at nights when you've been in places like this. Thanks to you and all the team.
Just a bit more info, during the 50s and 60s the valley from Alexandra Park to the mill in Park Bridge was filled in as a town refuge dump, it took a few years so the converting was done as the tip advanced, I think the iron contamination is may be due to the many tin cans and other scrap metal in the tip and the changes in construction was in stages as the tip moved down the valley. It's now Snipe Clough Nature Reserve. Always interesting, thanks for your videos.
Hello bud this one was worth waiting for. My wife has just told me that if she looks in on my den on sundays and she sees a mug of coffee and some chocky biscuits by the tv she waits till she hears" hullo I'm martin"then toddles of to leave me in peace
Gerry i would record his voice if i were you and play it every day, if she leaves you alone. or alternately watch his vids again and again. Just got to say ive just installed my wifi extender in my shed also.
This was known as devils hole in the mid 50s and you couldn't access it because of a weir but Sallys hole was easily accessed and we used to go through it quite often. The source of the brook emerged from under the council tip and was a sewer. I lived on Fitton hill estate and this was our playground.
That was so so good Martin, an excellent group of like minded people, safety in numbers too, I wonder where it would have come out if you'd had the opportunity to carry on.
There was once a railway signal box just south of Oldham Clegg St station named Sheepwashers Lane, on the same line that crossed the demolished viaduct.
I have just watched your video of park bridge tunnel. Devils hole. I have a little info for you regarding the corrugated sections. In the early eighties cherry valley was used as a landfill and sheepwashers brook was culverted along the section from near to Alexandra park all the way to park bridge section beyond Dingle terrace. Which is above the iron works/ cotton mill site. It took about 4 years to completely fill the valley. My mum lived on Alt estate and had to put up with the smells as they finished about 2 years after. The inspection covers that were installed along the pipe where you walked exploded and blew about 6 of them off due to the methane gas. In the 90s when I lived off warren lane which I had a view of the railway and what is left of the valley. They started construction of a 50mtr diameter settling tank on the valley this is about 75- + metres deep. If you had continued along the corrugated section where you turned back then you would have reached this holding tank. It was quite a sight when they were sinking the sections into the ground. The only thing you see now is vent pipes above ground. And the vented access covers all along the valley. But is is so overgrown that they will be difficult to find. When I was a kid I went through all of the tunnels and many a time had to swim out of them. Oh and in those days the medlock in that area was an open sewer. Full of all sorts. One time we had a half of a canoe mould and we canoed from near to the source at lees all the way to. Bardsley canal. At crime village took us 3 days. Keep up the good interesting. Videos I really enjoy them.
It was always called devils hole when I was a kid it comes out in the valley to the rear of dingle terrace at a weir , to the left of that was Sally’s hole which ran under the hill and also came out in the valley behind Dingle terrace, the entrance to Sally’s hole was covered in ages ago . There is a modern tunnel thar runs all the way to Honeywell lane near Alexandra park this was built under the tip I remember going in as a kid and it had a mini train in it
In the woods not far from that last tunnel is a memorial stone for the girl who was murdered. I came across it while walking in the woods a few years ago. It's hard to find as I have walked those woods for many years and only came across it a few years ago for 1st time.
Great stuff again! I watched your pervious video at Park Bridge and it inspired me to add the area onto an explore of the Hollinwood Canal (in Daisy Nook) that I already had planned. I added the two together and it became a 10.64 mile walk that I did on Friday. PS the canal is also well worth exploring. In the last shot when you walk away from the smelly sump (about 21:18 mins) someone has painted 1/2 mtr deep on the left (east) wall, which you confirmed with your wade through. If there's a way of mapping the distances (I assume GPS doesn't work, but I don't do tunnels myself) I think you will find that the corrugated sections were put in last and filled the open sections shown in the side by side old map. It certainly looks like that would fit. These would have just needed to be placed in the stream bed and then covered over. Plenty of spare spoil around there! Regarding the odd bricks in the upper stone section. I think these would have been construction holes for the wooden tooling to fabricate the arched roof. There is also evidence of a narrow ledge just above their level where I think a horizontal (lateral) timber for the arch tools would have been placed and slid along.
I used to play in Cherry Valley as a child. It was an open water coarse that often had sewage released into it every few weeks. We payed on the valley sides and down in the river for years. Long after the trains stopped running it was still a great place to play,all between the playing fields by Alexandra Park all down to Park Bridge. The council have totally filled in the valley which is why and how you have so many different types of brickwork,corrigation I suspect. Where you went right to set off,just to the left of the arches was another drain channel all the kids called Sally's hole...now collapsed.
Excellent explore Martin! The way you linked the cursor on the maps was brilliant, that, and the old stone tunnels themselves brought history to life! Thank You!
Fascinating, mate. The photography was dramatic. Always boggles the mind to think that every piece of stone or brick would have been laid by hand of the hands of souls long gone. But there would have been a great communal spirit between those men and we have a rare glimpse of their toils of labour that continue to benefit everyone in the area a today. This is thanks to yourselves and the team you worked with today.
Never tire of this content and it's always done so well. For some reason RU-vid didn't notify me about this video...I really don't like it when that happens. :(
Wonderful footage of a very intriguing tunnel ! That looks to get some really heavy "flash flow" due to how clean the beds are. You are pretty deep for the lack of roots. Extremely well constructed, what a treasure ! I did miss seeing James, but all the gents solid and knowledgeable. Many thanks for taking us along :)
My great grandfather worked in the rolling mill at Park Bridge. My mother would take his lunch, from Glodwick, when she only attended school in the mornings (half day). She was a cotton weaver in various mills in Oldham and wove parachute silk during WWII. I remember Park Bridge as a Sunday afternoon stroll when I was a kid - bloody long time ago. Thanks for the video Martin - very interesting.
Interesting to see Park Bridge today as a young teenager in 1950's we ride along the Hollinwood/Bardsley canal to Park bridge. There we would watch them rolling iron into rods. I am not sure if the cotton mill still operated growing up in Droylsden seeing cotton mills was not that interesting but iron rolling was awesome. I worked at Buckton vale print works and this had many tunnels carrying effluent and fresh water for dyeing underneath the valley
One of the things that make your video's so interesting Martin, is the fact that you always share the history of the places you go with us. Obviously the research takes a great deal of time and effort but it is very much appreciated by myself, and other people who follow you I am certain. Just wanted to say that you have taken some amazing photo's on your trek through the culvert, well done Martin !
Well Martin that was one daggy tunnel. Loved the brick and stone parts. Thanks for the history I really love it. Thanks so much for taking me along. Please stay safe and take care
Great video. If you look on the map you showed, at one point it shows some tennis courts. this is the area we called 5 hills as kids. Just down the hill from there was a massive open sewer that was covered up by the landfill. If you want any information about this area in the early 70s just ask. It was my playground.
Very cool video Martin! The chamber with the sump in it had 1/2 meter deep marked on the wall. The tunnel was very interesting especially the dark brick and the stone parts!
Thanks Gang for the Explore . Martin that was sweet at 15 mins where You got to see what your Dad was talking about . He might have been down where You walked ?
Sunday evening. Martin. Medlockery. Yes! "Now I want you to look at...." says Martin, prior to filling in the history in the manner of an excellent teacher. My favourite academic study at school was social, economic and industrial history because our teacher brought it to life. We felt we were at the mill, living on a pittance, or marching from Jarrow. I love it still. Martin's presentation reels you in in the say way Mrs James did. Thanks from a big fan.
Loved the post from the guy whose father did a load of work on culverts in the 1930s. That's the kind of info that ends up pretty much word of mouth despite our best efforts to record what stuff is where and why we put it there. Also Antonio is cool and how the hell did they get the corrugated sections in there.
Martin Zero If there's a way of mapping the distances (I assume GPS doesn't work, but I don't do tunnels myself) I think you will find that the corrugated sections were put in last and filled the open sections shown in the side by side old map. It certainly looks like that would fit. These would have just needed to be placed in the stream bed and then covered over. Plenty of spare spoil around there!
@@nickcaunt750 That makes sense, but the big question is why? I understand putting small brooks and streams into culverts when an area was being industrialized, but not these days. It looks like mostly farm fields and some wooded areas around there. Maybe they just did that to try and keep people from going into the older sections of the culvert?
crazyfvck It looks like the site was used as landfill during the 1980s. Deanshut Clough, Dingle Terrace, Ashton-Under-Lyne, Tameside OL6 8AH is listed as a former landfill site sold off by Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority in December 2012 to a company called Landcare.
@@davidwood3601 I was in the area last Friday. Dingle Terrace is at the top of Park Bridge village, right beside (east) of the area that is probably landfill. It certainly looks so on the aerial maps. I actually walked down to the river where Martin accessed the riverbank. He makes it look so easy. It was slippery as hell after a shower when I did it. Anyway, I walked past the entrance to Sally's Hole (which is shown at the end of the video). I think the wire grill was no longer bent. I ascended the steep bank right up to the top. and continued my walk. That area was almost certainly former landfill, it looks the same on aerial maps. The two spots are essentially side by side. There would be plenty of landfill after demolishing the works!
Bit late to the party but when I was a kid I was led to believe devils hole was more towards the houses on dingle terrace and was next to the exit of sallys hole. Sallys hole exit was small and devils hole much larger… both were fully circular and water would pour out of them. Both were covered in the early 80’s and re-routed… I was only a kid tho and could be wrong
Wow you are some brave explorer. Your name will go down in history that’s for sure. Fabulous filming, footage, atmospheric music. Loved it. So good. Thank you for sharing that explore with us.
Absolutely amazing as always, and the still shots are fantastic. Glad to see you had your hard hat on again ... you've been giving me the heebee-jeebees on some of your more recent vids! :o) Brilliant as always and I'll look forward to seeing any research your turn up as to what it was.
Very interesting video Martin and most enlightening. The part where you went through the tunnel that ran parrallel to the short row of houses (Dingle Terrace) is where the underground pumping station is located where I delivered and placed submersible electric pumps. I was told it was to control the run off from the land above. The reason the pumps were changed fairly often was because of the iron oxide build up, we knew this as 'leachate' and when it dries out it sets rock hard and is difficult to remove. The passageways in the pumping station must be linked to the tunnels you went through. At the time I went there it was overseen by the Greater Manchester waste group, now no longer in existance I always went in with the 'gas crew' a fine bunch of lads.
@@RichieWellock that's probably it, I was told it was to handle the run off from an old landfill site, I went to various sites around manchester all with methane sripping plants. some had burners and some ran generator systems off the methane.removed
@@dunc1958 All this talk of the landfill sites has got me wondering if the infiltration leachate into the tunnel is also contaminating the watercourse with landfill runoff. Perhaps that explains the smelly powder which 'stunk' but was neither H2S nor methane.
Part of the upper reaches of the Sheepwashers Brook is visible on the well-known panorama photograph made in 1876 by Squire Knott, on display in Gallery Oldham. Nowadays the brook is entirely culverted.
park bridge was my play area as a nipper martin.i take my grandson now and he finds it a fab place.my mate used to live in a stone cottage over the bridge at fairbottom bobs.
there is still a building there on the opposite side of the road to the bobs .it looks new so might have been rebuilt since then. there is a old cottage remains next to the chimney of fairbottom bobs
@29:20 All that area where you say you can't see anything, you can actually see it archeologically in the field markings and tree divides if you look. You can even see an effect where the map is very slightly distorted from about @27:40 moving the map a little south compared to the photo, this sometimes happened on old maps, it could be an angular effect from how the picture was taken or simply your cursor was a few pixels out initially and the error margin increased over distance from origin. Its really interesting, I have done some work myself with field markings and you can see most of the features you mention here in field marks even though the actual course is gone. In fact the path looks like its still there in some form. The iron oxide formations coming from the ceiling is a good indicator that its seeping though that way, it "could" be that dumps from the iron works over time has leeched out into the water table and that is what you are seeing, just a thought.
I was interested to know what that was... I googled it... and yes it was a manufacturer of Staffordshire Blue tiles, bricks, edgings etc. They made those nice rope top edgings you find in old victorian gardens. 👍
It looks like there is a lot of iron in the ground in this area. It may be spoil it may be natural. I worked for a geosynthetics company that made 'clay-mat' a bentonite clay liner that was used to make settlement lagoons for waterways contaminated by iron ore. Lots of them around the Manchester area. Good video. I prefer it when you don't use the coloured lights or the mask. Thanks.
Another great trip....please find the other end. Is it me? The area of tunnel where you examine the "VITROS" bricks looks as though it was built in two stages. The blocks used for the vertical walls look fuller and less dressed as those used on the roof. It looks like this section may have been covered over at a later date, as per you notes about someones' father working on the "Sheepwash"
Fantastic video Martin shame you couldn't venture deeper . it would of been very interesting. I especially like the silhouette picture of Richie Wellock at 34:01
Interesting video Martin, thanks for going in and sticking with it. Makes you wonder what the need was to culvert under fields. And so deep underground. Corrugated iron concrete works I tend to associate with wartime. Plenty of pill boxes built the same way but horizontal obviously.
Martin, I was rivited to the last two videos. I used to live close to Park bridge. I have learned so much. Dont forget to do the rest of the river medlock you may be able to explain more at the bottom of Glodwick Lows and the ford.
This is such an interesting channel. Imagine there must be hundreds of places like this all over the UK from a bygone time - history right under our noses.
Vitros Buckley A very hard engineering 'blue brick' often used in railway cuttings and bridges. Thanks for this description; Capitol 203 said: A blue brick manufactured by the North Staffordshire Brick & Tile Co. Ltd. The company was in existence from the mid 1800s through to the 1970s and operated from their works at Crackley Bank, Chesterton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffs. VITROS was the company’s trade brand which was used for many of their products including bricks, copings, pavers and plain roof tiles. “Blue” clayware products were their speciality.
How could you resist trying to follow that water course from above? With the old map and the number of risers looking for 'topside' clues would be another adventure!
Just been looking at an older map than you had where more of the brook ran open - traced it up to an area called Sheepwashes, (roughly where Alexandra Park boating lake is now). Park Road from King Street roundabout to Alexandra Park was known as Sheepwashes Lane. This is the correct spelling. Whether it later became Sheepwashers or whether this is simply what locals later mistakenly called it, who knows.
@@MartinZero National Library of Scotland, 3rd thumbnail down (don't do side by side) - Ordnance Survey 6 inch to the mile, surveyed 1844-1863, published 1882.
Another excellent video Martin thanks, must take some guts to go In those culverts and tunnels, a braver man than I am, please keep your vlogs coming and stay safe Martin, looking forward to your next vlog
