Foxdenton Drain, Manchester - April 2010

[Ojay]

Foxdenton Drain - Visited by Ojay.

http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx345/ojay1234/Foxdenton/IMGP2426.jpg

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

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.

http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx345/ojay1234/Foxdenton/infall.jpg

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

http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx345/ojay1234/Foxdenton/Looking_Up.jpg

it eventually started to curve left

http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx345/ojay1234/Foxdenton/Bends2.jpg

http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx345/ojay1234/Foxdenton/MOI.jpg

before opening up into a larger chamber with a manhole shaft

http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx345/ojay1234/Foxdenton/manhole3.jpg

at this point it straightened up for about another 150 yards

http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx345/ojay1234/Foxdenton/further_up.jpg

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

http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx345/ojay1234/Foxdenton/chamber1.jpg

http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx345/ojay1234/Foxdenton/chamber2.jpg

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

http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx345/ojay1234/Foxdenton/looking_down1.jpg

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

http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx345/ojay1234/Foxdenton/shaft1.jpg

http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx345/ojay1234/Foxdenton/shaft2.jpg

I also spotted this curious plant formation

http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx345/ojay1234/Foxdenton/Plant_Life.jpg

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

http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx345/ojay1234/Foxdenton/silt.jpg

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

http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx345/ojay1234/Foxdenton/cross_section.jpg

http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx345/ojay1234/Foxdenton/steps_up1.jpg

Looking back down into the drain

http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx345/ojay1234/Foxdenton/steps_down1.jpg

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

http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx345/ojay1234/Foxdenton/overflow_sump.jpg

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

http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx345/ojay1234/Foxdenton/tunnel.jpg

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!

http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx345/ojay1234/Foxdenton/flow.jpg

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

http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx345/ojay1234/Foxdenton/Looking_Out2.jpg

Thanks for looking :thumb

[Ojay]

Look nice that, some decent pictures! Nice one

Cheers dude :)

[Ojay]

haha

[TheVicar]

Some great pics there - I've never seen the water levels so low in this drain before, I was stopped from going that far!

I believe Siologen found this around 2004. Its been reported on a few times, I did it around 2 years back. ConcreteJungle explored it recently (http://substormflow.blogspot.com/2010/02/foxdenton.html)

PS. It's not the river Irk but downstream of Red Barn. :)

[Ojay]

Some great pics there - I've never seen the water levels so low in this drain before, I was stopped from going that far!

I believe Siologen found this around 2004. Its been reported on a few times, I did it around 2 years back. ConcreteJungle explored it recently (http://substormflow.blogspot.com/2010/02/foxdenton.html)

PS. It's not the river Irk but downstream of Red Barn. :)

I looked on maps, and the irk flows through that area, and Redbarn?

Not sure what else it could be dude? Moston Brook is the other side as well.

It's not a bad little drain, I used to play around in it when I was younger, I remembered climbing into some smaller pipes at the other side of the business park, but not sure if they are still visible?

There has been a lot of development since I was 11 year old :D

[TheVicar]

Hey Ojay, it's the Wince Brook and it eventually joins the Irk near the detergent works (Box Factory drain).
There's a nice bit of Blue Brick Pipe just upstream of Foxdenton, although its only a very short section.
Keep up the good work, I never tire of seeing Manchester's drains. :)

[Ojay]

Hey Ojay, it's the Wince Brook and it eventually joins the Irk near the detergent works (Box Factory drain).
There's a nice bit of Blue Brick Pipe just upstream of Foxdenton, although its only a very short section.
Keep up the good work, I never tire of seeing Manchester's drains. :)

Ahh that is where I think I used to hang around all them years ago, nice one... ;)

[Ojay]

Never seen this so low before, sometimes the flow is far too powerful to get anywhere near that processed sewage outfall into the drain.

Where does the processed treatment flow from dude? The nearest works are quite a way off I thought

[concreteJungle]

The works are right above you where the flow enters. That low flow is crazy, I was in chest waders and was struggling when I went. See the difference!

http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx345/ojay1234/Foxdenton/steps_down1.jpg

http://i449.photobucket.com/albums/qq220/concreteJunglePics/Foxdenton/IMG_2256.jpg

[Ojay]

Bloody hell Crete!

[Oldskool]

coolpics.....

[MattB]

Wow very cool pics! :D

[Ojay]

hit this one yesterday while the flow seems low. Nice little drain, mental infall from the other works into the drain though... blimey

Provided a few :D when I dipped my wellie in and it nearly took off down stream :crazy