Barrow Bridge Chimney, Bolton
Built in 1863, The chimney was part of the power system of the nearby Halliwell Bleach Works
The works were founded by Peter Ainsworth in 1739, and acquired a reputation in the early 19th Century for the early use of chlorine gas in the bleaching process, under the direction of Richard Ainsworth
The chimney is now the principal surviving relic of the bleach works
Aged 17 Fred Dibnah climbed the 262-foot (80 m) chimney at Barrow Bridge, for a 10 shilling bet. During the night he took two Union flags to the top and secured each to the lightning conductors there
The Bolton Evening News reported the incident, with a photograph of Dibnah's feat, but attributed it to the activities of students from Manchester University
He has since maintained the chimney, carrying out significant repairs in 1996
The chimney was last inspected in 2007, sadly not by Fred who passed away in 2004 - R.I.P
I had wanted to look at this for a while now, but time was always against me, so whilst in the area today with Oldskool, we decided to check out the chimney and it's flue
Now I was told it was grimey, but fuck me I've never encountered anything as filthy as this place, and believe me I have been in some real shit holeZ
The main flue splits from the base of the chimney and runs for about 80M where it's now backfilled before reaching the demolished bleach works
It was great to see the brickwork, and infact I'm astounded the place hasn't collapsed, but then why would it, these structures were always over engineered
We grabbed a few shots having struggled through before returning to civilisation where I now looked like the ace of spades!
Despite a good hosing down, and 2 showers I cannot get this soot off me FFS...Grrr
As Fred would say "Did you like that" - Well actually on this occasion did I fooK!
I looked like Sooty & Sweep amongst other things by the time we got out
PS - If you go here, I recommend shorts & T-shirt
