Brinksway Re-visited

Bankholiday, pissing down rain and what to do?

Brinksway Shelter is one of only 3 remaining deep level shelters out of the 5 that originally existed, situated just outside the town centre which was once refuge to around 2,000 people.

Constructed between 1938 and 1939 and used as refuge during WWII, The tunnels have been cut through and into the red sandstone to which Stockport is built on.

I have been in here a fair few times now, and decided to pay the place one last visit with a mate on the way to Decathlon.

Sadly the place has been fucked over in recent years, and was finally sealed last year :)

Original Entrance

Filled In

Tunnels

Bunk beds

More Tunnels

Toilets

'Old Way In' ;)

Manchester Dry Docks

Cranes...

The dry docks were opened in 1894 by the Manchester Ship Canal Pontoons and Dry Dock Co. Later it was known as the Manchester Drydock Co. Ltd. There were three dry docks in this facility (including a floating drydock), the largest being 535 feet long, the others being 430 and 450 feet long, all of them have a width of 65 feet.

They played a key role in the rise of the region's shipping industry after the Manchester Ship Canal was opened by Queen Victoria in 1894.

The special port facilities, which could be drained to allow repairs on ships' hulls, have been closed and the heavy machinery dismantled and moved to Liverpool.

They were used to repair large ocean-going liners, tugs and dredgers over the years. More recently, the Mersey ferry Mountwood and the replica of the Golden Hind, had work done at the docks.

Below you can see some old aerial pics of the site

Manchester Dry Docks Ltd folded in 1980, marking the end of a long and proud history with the loss of 450 jobs. But a band of former employees resurrected the shipyard in 1987 under the name Lengthline.

Sadly the place is now derelict and currently being demo'd to make way for the ever expanding Salford Quays :(

I went for a mooch a while back with Stepping Lightly whilst we were on the way to another site...

Present Day

Dock Cranes

"Hmmm I can think of a good use for these" ;) - SL eyeing up your craneZ

Hooked

Boilers

Generator

Pump Room

Ship Canal

Old meets new... Salford Quays

36 Double D, Stocksbridge

Shouts to WB, Muttley & Ludo Finster...

When I first saw 36DD I immediatley thought of tits, well who wouldn't!

I remember first seeing a report from ThenewMendoza & Bnugle over a year ago and promptly added it to the list...

'Copy & Paste'

"Sam Fox is also the name of a steel baron from the times of yore. First producing steel at Stocksbridge, South Yorkshire in 1842, 90 years later the company decided they wanted to hide the river that runs adjacent to the site. So they made a fecking huge culvert".

^^^ What he said - Shouts to Mendo for discovering this place.

Fast forward nearly 2 years and I had forgot all about it until Woodburner insisted on organising a mooch.

36 Double D is a fair sized culvert running under and alongside the steelworks in Stocksbridge, joining Underbank reservoir and flowing into the River Don.

WARNING - If you value your ankles stay away! 3 months of physio un-done in one night :D

Greenbooth Reservoir Descent

Shouts to Stepping Lightly...

Completed in 1961 at a cost of £2,101,000.

The dam is 117 ft high and 1,000 ft long. There was a problem with the dam in 1983 when it was reported that the dam appeared to be sinking.

A round-the-clock vigil was kept on the dam wall until 25 million gallons per day were drained from the reservoir to relieve the pressure.

Repairs were carried out and by 1986 the reservoir was re-filled to capacity again.

Reeto time for an annual inspection of some plugholes...

...No sooner was the rope rigged, Stepping Lightly shot down, barely giving me a chance to get a pic!

"Rope clear, get down Ojay"

Next Victim

Resi overflow

GTFO

Echo Falls

An excellent find by Stepping Lightly this one...

We were in the area later in the week so stopped by for another mooch, despite it being only a small system it had all the potential for a decent drain.

3 falls, a decent sized outfall, plywood manholes and enough RCP to shake a stick at... Oh wait

We started at the Outfall, which was covered in slippery moss, a quick climb and we were in

The first real feature was some Stone Blocks in a decent sized chamber, usually a sign that there would be some serious flowage in here.

The ever increasing hole in my wellies failed me again as I stepped into the 2ft of water.

The RCP took a sharp left and continued on around 100 yds before reaching an Inspection Chamber.

In the distance could be heard a loud roar, we continued upstream until we reached the Second of the 3 Falls.

A ladder took us up to the top of a larger chamber to the Falls.

(Looking back down)

After grabbing a few shots, we climbed across and headed up the RCP, which zig-zagged upstream, passing 3 further Chambers along the way

Eventually daylight and then this... The 3rd Falls

We climbed out here at the Infall and made our way back out above ground.