Previously reported on by @tarkovsky who picked up my slack after I found this ages ago but decided against it due to the awful smell at the outfall.
There is a leaky CSO and terdZ in this drain. @Ojay
Situated to the North of Chapeltown outside Sheffield is a valley that has been industrialised since before the turn of the 20th Century, with a river running along its floor that has been culverted since at least 1890 in some parts. Since the river culvert has been extended over the years, there is a real mishmash of construction styles along is modest length (around 600m).
Interesting video about Newton Chambers, which was the last large scale industrial company to occupy the site, alas closing in 1970: Video Link
Thorncliffe Iron Works and Colliery, 1890:-
So, on a sunny evening with some sort of Association Soccer match about to kick off, myself and @tarkovsky arranged to get underground... seemed like a sensible idea to us!
Currently the culvert's upstream entrance is grilled off, and the downstream entrance has a large stinky festering pool at its outfall that is over welly depth (ask @tarkovsky how he found that out)
The lower section is almost all concrete pipe for the first 100 meters or so...
I didn't get many photos of this section because it was fairly boring and runs under the modern housing estate, however once past all that it gets much more interesting...
Brick Pipe:
The site of a sluice gate of some sort in the past:
Lovely arched roof channel:
Buried Bridge:
There is a brief open air section where the culvert runs under what is now Thorncliffe business park, but outside office hours we couldn't see anyone about... The next section was much wider than the previous sections and was possibly the original culvert from the 1800s, the construction style certainly matches:
Back to brick arches:
Smelly section, where we found some drain f0sh lurking.
Final section of brick pipe before the infall:
GrillZ
Once we got back to the surface, the streets were deserted due to the aforementioned Soccer game... we thought we had spent our time more wisely.
Well worth a visit if you're in the area, just remember to bring waders.
Thanks for looking.
WB.
There is a leaky CSO and terdZ in this drain. @Ojay
Situated to the North of Chapeltown outside Sheffield is a valley that has been industrialised since before the turn of the 20th Century, with a river running along its floor that has been culverted since at least 1890 in some parts. Since the river culvert has been extended over the years, there is a real mishmash of construction styles along is modest length (around 600m).
Interesting video about Newton Chambers, which was the last large scale industrial company to occupy the site, alas closing in 1970: Video Link
Thorncliffe Iron Works and Colliery, 1890:-
So, on a sunny evening with some sort of Association Soccer match about to kick off, myself and @tarkovsky arranged to get underground... seemed like a sensible idea to us!
Currently the culvert's upstream entrance is grilled off, and the downstream entrance has a large stinky festering pool at its outfall that is over welly depth (ask @tarkovsky how he found that out)
The lower section is almost all concrete pipe for the first 100 meters or so...
I didn't get many photos of this section because it was fairly boring and runs under the modern housing estate, however once past all that it gets much more interesting...
Brick Pipe:
The site of a sluice gate of some sort in the past:
Lovely arched roof channel:
Buried Bridge:
There is a brief open air section where the culvert runs under what is now Thorncliffe business park, but outside office hours we couldn't see anyone about... The next section was much wider than the previous sections and was possibly the original culvert from the 1800s, the construction style certainly matches:
Back to brick arches:
Smelly section, where we found some drain f0sh lurking.
Final section of brick pipe before the infall:
GrillZ
Once we got back to the surface, the streets were deserted due to the aforementioned Soccer game... we thought we had spent our time more wisely.
Well worth a visit if you're in the area, just remember to bring waders.
Thanks for looking.
WB.
