Report - River Medlock, Manchester - July 2018

[Snake Oil]

tis a good walk with plenty to see

 

[TheVicar]

Stunning report and pics mate. Really good stuff. A fascinating river.
Some of my family used to live on the banks of it during pre-UMIST days so I have a soft spot for the Medlock.

Cheers. Apart from the Irwell, the rest of Manchester's watercourses are pretty much unloved and ignored. It is fun to drive through the Medlock in Oldham where it is not much more than a stream!

 

[Crewdie]

I think you may be confusing the Medlock with the Irk. I lived in Chadderton and the Irk runs through Chadderton Park and the source is in Royton. The Irwell, Medlock and Irk form the three rivers of Manchester as seen of the coat of arms.
I worked at Dunlop GRG on Cambridge Street in the mid 80's and I can assure you there would be no fish in there. It is good to see the river cleaned up.

Excellent photos !

 

[Nickindroy]

I think you may be confusing the Medlock with the Irk. I lived in Chadderton and the Irk runs through Chadderton Park and the source is in Royton. The Irwell, Medlock and Irk form the three rivers of Manchester as seen of the coat of arms.
I worked at Dunlop GRG on Cambridge Street in the mid 80's and I can assure you there would be no fish in there. It is good to see the river cleaned up.

Excellent photos !

There's plenty of Medlock in Oldham mate.

 

[Crewdie]

Apologies. Indeed it does

 

[Seffy]

Very thorough as usual, lovely work sir!

 

[navmanl200]

Fantastic report, Great photo's too. Loved the bit at the end about the disused machinery to control the flow into the river. Reason I was looking for this was after seeing that the canal that runs over the culvert (Rochdale canal) has a trap door that allows it to be drained into the river Tib and then ultimately the Medlock.

 

[pastybarm]

@navmanl200 What you just posted was discussed in a recent youtube video by martin zero. Whether the tib exists as an actual river anymore is debatable, it is culverted and most likely serves more as a drain cum sewer, than the proper river it was in the past.

 

[pastybap]

as an update to the above, posted under my previous moniker, at the end of martin zeros video this sunday evening just gone, he clarifies that what he thought was the tib outfall was not right. I tended to think that was just a sewer overflow, and it is sad that the tib does not seem to flow nowadays, wonder if the bricked in arch was the original outfall, since shrunk into a pipe and the final bit of plastic pipe? either way, an interesting watch!!!!

 

[TheVicar]

Just been watching a few of Martin's recent videos and it is indeed good to know where the Tib finally joins the Medlock.
Shame it's just a piece of plastic pipe with no regular flow but his research and detective work has answered an important question.

 

[pastybap]

I found it odd there is no flow as well. It looks like there was once a wider brick arch around it now filled in. Agree about his detective work, he is dedicated will give him that,