Report - Minotaur’s Lair / Cavern CSO Detention Tank Works – Accrington – August 2023

[TheVicar]

That's really cool. When you say it's a culvert do you mean a previously open stream was redirected into a tunnel through rock? I'm wondering why, that seems like a lot of work. It kind of looks like a mine. Are there remains of door / sluice gate in pics 6-7?

This is a very good question that I also wondered about.
To be fair I'm not quite sure of the history of why this stream was culverted as it just runs below what is a field above. Both the infall and the outfall sections are brick and stone built but the section in the middle is rock. It must have been a lot of work to have done this but I can't work out where the stream would have flowed if this culvert had not been built. Naturally the watercourse runs in the lowest lying land but without this culvert, a lot of this land would have probably been under water so perhaps it was built to provide more land for agriculture.
Yes, at some point in time there appears to have been a sluice gate / penstock in the rock section which must have been operated from a form of control in the field above. Definitely one of the more unusual culverts!

 

[Alley]

This is a very good question that I also wondered about.
To be fair I'm not quite sure of the history of why this stream was culverted as it just runs below what is a field above. Both the infall and the outfall sections are brick and stone built but the section in the middle is rock. It must have been a lot of work to have done this but I can't work out where the stream would have flowed if this culvert had not been built. Naturally the watercourse runs in the lowest lying land but without this culvert, a lot of this land would have probably been under water so perhaps it was built to provide more land for agriculture.
Yes, at some point in time there appears to have been a sluice gate / penstock in the rock section which must have been operated from a form of control in the field above. Definitely one of the more unusual culverts!

Interesting, that sounds plausible. Thanks for sharing!

 

[pastybap]

Yes, at some point in time there appears to have been a sluice gate / penstock in the rock section which must have been operated from a form of control in the field above. Definitely one of the more unusual culverts!

Have yet to get up round the Accrington area, to take a look at all this for myself, but could be related to farmland above, or run off from a canal or watercourse, also lots of old mills around east lancs, so perhaps related to a mill pond? I do find all this stuff interesting! Happy 2nd month of 2024 everyone!!

 

[pastybap]

Tried to edit the above comment, from googling, you are right it is a tank, but it has flushing gates (the hydraulic and mechanical stuff at one end), so the tank can clean itself of any detritus, but it does look like it could do with a bit of a clear out from your pics.