Foxdenton Re-visited - The Treatment Works

Visited by Ojay.

After visiting Foxdenton Drain last week and getting as far as the output from the treatment works, curiosity got the better of me, so I decided to go and take a closer look.

Visiting these places is always tricky, especially here with the 24 hour CCTV and security (A bit on top you could say)

Once inside I decided to have a mooch about as you do. Half of the shit farm is unused at the minute, with a newer much bigger section in the middle, this is where the final effluent could be found before being dumped into the drain below I was stood in the week before.

Older shit tanks

I also managed to locate the overflow section with the giant steps and sump which I had climbed into from the drain below. I even found manhole access into here as well from above

Here is the section that handles the final output before entering into the drain below

This construction houses a number of large tanks and pipework that stores and processes the final 'treated' effluent after spending time in the shit spinners

I had to climb up onto the smaller roof below to get onto the stairwell

Here you can see the final stages of effluent storage

Once ready the final treatment is piped into this massive backwash tank opposite, which is Hooj and looked rather deep!

Here were the controls, I was very tempted to make some fine adjustments (Only kidding)...

Once ready the final treatment from the works is pumped from the backwash tank by this giant pumping station

before it's final journey through here to the drain below

Although it was difficult to capture and was also wary of the camera pointing right at me, I took a quick shot of the turd stream before it disappeared into the drain below

Here it is entering the drain below, at exactly the same point I was stood at the week before

Bryant's Warehouse LNWR, Stockport

Visited by Ojay.

Bryant's Warehouse is a grade II listed building, originally constructed in 1877 by the London and North Western Railway Company.

It's western elevation retains a substantial amount of architectural detail which reveals how the building once functioned. This includes various types of doorways into the building, rail levels and platform levels, as well as trap doors in all of the floor levels.

One of the most significant surviving features within the building are the hoist mechanisms in the roof space and the seperate accumulator tower and 2 electric pumps.

Historical Background

The railway line which passes on the western side of Bryant's Warehouse was fully opened in 1842 with the completion of the Mersey viaduct to the south of the site. Running between Manchester and London and was operated by the Manchester and Birmingham Railway Company, which in turn became one of the constituents of the LNWR Company in 1846.

Originally on the site was a smaller 'store' as could be seen on an 1851 OS map below. This was constucted as the railway network developed and carried increasing amounts of goods/passengers.

Sadly it was destroyed by a fire and the present, much larger warehouse was constructed in 1877.

The 1895 OS map below shows considerable detail the layout of the present building. You can see 4 sets of railway lines entering the building: 2 on the western side and 2 on the southern side. These lines are connected together by two pairs of turntables located within the warehouse itself. To the north of the warehouse is the engine house complex which powered the hoist mechanisms in the warehouse.

A rail line runs directly to these buildings, once used to deliver coal to the boilers.

The warehouse narrowly escaped being bombed during WW2, sustaining slight damage to the north-western corner of the building.

Constructed in red brick in an English bond with blue engineering bricks used for decorative banding and dressing. A yellow brick cornice runs around the north, east and south elevations. The cornice wraps around onto the west elevation at the southern end, but does not continue across this elevation.

At the northern end of the elevation the parapet has been rebuilt and the wrapped around section of cornice has been replaced with plain brickwork (occurred as a result of bomb damage). Most of the west elevation has a plain brick parapet with 'LONDON AND NORTH WESTERN RAILWAY COMPANY'S GOODS WAREHOUSE' depicted on it in white glazed brick.

The western elevation of the warehouse is also characterised by a series of eight tall arched doorways at ground floor level, two of these were to allow rail freight into the warehouse. On the exterior there are a number of information plaques associated with the hydraulic system fixed to it.

Western elevation

Various placards

Taking in door

Original fire hydrant, manually operated of course

On the north west of the warehouse, is an accumulator tower, once providing hydraulic power for the hoists situated in the main warehouse

to the right (and further below), you can also see the top of the engine house, again in similar style to the warehouse and tower.

The Interior

The warehouse itself comprises four storeys and a basement, which extends 50% beneath the building. (now used as a car dealers).
Each floor consists of timber flooring and roof sections, with cast iron columns attached to tie-beams and scarf joints, typically transverse and longitudanal I-section beams. There are two staircases down to the ground floor an inserted lift shaft towards the centre of the building (more recent) and a second (earlier) lift shaft within a former alignment of trap doors located towards the southern end of the building.

The top floor is largely used as storage for the car dealers below, also the roof space houses a variety of hoist mechanisms

The manual hoist in the roof space, the only one of its type, with the others being replaced by hydraulic jiggers & electric hoists

Trap door, also present on each floor down to ground

Trapped is this 1930's Lagonda, worth at least £250K restored...(and the rest!)

Whilst mooching about up here, I managed to climb out of the roof hatch and get this photo of the existing railway line

The third floor is similar to the 4th, however remains empty and currently un-used

The second floor is a large open floor space, however has now been divided into small storage units.

The first floor, again has been divided into smaller storage units, No photos were taken here due to the sensitivity of the building.

The ground floor of the warehouse is considerably more complex than the upper floors and has since been subdivided in recent years by more storage units and office space.

Railway turntables and tracks running into the building are still visible in the floor of the northern of the two western rail entrances. There are also raised platforms and other associated railway workings evident throughout.

Accumulator Tower & Engine House

An accumulator tower is situated to the north west of the warehouse, constructed in a similar style to the warehouse, but its design has allowed for more scope for Italianate detailing. Again it is constructed in red brick in an English bond, with blue engineering brick dressings. It also has a pyramidal slate roof and a yellow brick cornice.

The upper stage of the tower has three blank arcaded windows to each elevation, with the central window in the north and south being louvred, there is also a circular opening below the arcading.

The accumulator housed within the tower enabled hydraulic power to be supplied to the hoist system in the warehouse

Ladders up

Stood on top of the tower looking up

Circular window and winch, situated below louvred ventilation

Looking down

Inside the Engine House

Foxdenton Drain

Visited by Ojay.

Here the Wince Brook is culverted underground before continuing on it's ever winding journey towards Manchester where it joins the River Irk.

Due to the levels being a lot lower at the momemt I decided to tackle this one in wellies, however it did present one or two challenges!

The section of drain that I explored was relatively short, but did have a number of interesting features on the way.

The infall itself protrudes from the ground for a while before dissapearing out of sight altogether. It was once protected by a large grille which has long since collapsed into the water to create quite a handy dam, perhaps just as well because the initial bit was deep and no chance of getting past in the wellies.

Anyway in I went into the darkness once again. The entire section was a combination of half brick half concrete, with various side pipes, manhole shafts and overflows on the way.

The first section downstream was straight for about 60 yards

it eventually started to curve left

before opening up into a larger chamber with a manhole shaft

at this point it straightened up for about another 150 yards

before arriving at this larger vaulted section with an overflow & manhole shaft

ahead, you can see this section of brickwork has been treated to some spray crete and steel re-inforcement

On the way were a number of manhole shafts, with lids that looked ancient, and wouldn't budge

I also spotted this curious plant formation

As I continued it became more and more difficult as it was silted up quite badly and getting deeper with every footstep

Further mooching through the silt brought me further to the thunderess sound of water in the distance. Here there was also more side pipes and some steps off to the right which led upto a grated outfall

Looking back down into the drain

Further up on the right was another section of RCP poking out, which I walked up for about 10 yards before it opened up into this large concrete vault complete with giant steps and a sump. Presumably some kind of CSO, although the upper pipe was dry and no flow present

The sump itself was very deep and no chance of crossing it in the wellies, I reckon it would be near on impossible in the chest waders, but I'm gonna go back and take a closer look.

There was also this concrete side tunnel to the left which was heavily silted up and seemed to go on forever

At this point the roar was immense, there was obviously some serious flow ahead, and sure enough as I went a bit further there was what looked to be processed treatment from the works being pumped in here, it was a major force!

Here marked the end for now, as there was no way I could carry on without the waders and possibly some rope, it was seriously fast flowing and much deeper than the upstream section I had just walked through.

Anyway a short mooch back to the infall and it was just starting to go dark