Inhospitable + The Works
(explored with @Ojay , @MartyZero and a non-member)
Inhospitable is a (as the crow flies) 1 and a half kilometer long culvert on the Moss Brook.
This drain includes a peculiar feature, called The Works (you will see why its called that soon).
The Explore
We got to the infall after quite abit of heavy rain, so the Moss Brook was quite abit more lively than usual.
The Infall (quite a few arches in a short distance!)
Water ingress was pouring through the roof in this bit meaning we got abit of a shower on the way in!
Got a tad deep for a small bit but shallowed out into ankle breaking culvert!
When I say ankle breaking, I mean it.
Since it had rained not even hours before our explore, the water had gone all murky and you could not see where you were stepping what so ever.
Either way, we were managing and pressed on.
Some beautiful stalactite formations.
In the distance we noticed a rush of water coming in from a side pipe. Quite a flow on it! No odd smells, so definitely some small watercourse.
As we continued down we noticed the small egg sidepipe, we went up one by one only to notice it had been completely blocked off!
No pics here, but heres one to show size comparison!
Marty decided to crawl out backwards, what a cock!!!!
Some more fancy shots commenced..
Now it was time to enter THE WORKS.
And my god, was it awesome!
Essentially what it is is an overflow for the Moss Brook into the River Irk, similar to how a CSO works except this time its for a natural watercourse.
Our theory for it being built was for a flood defence mechanism for the mills that were located bang next to the outfall of Inhospitable.
They would lower the penstock to completely divert the brook in times of flood out into the River Irk, to prevent any damage to the mills.
Again, this is a theory.
Climbing out on the right you get to a very tall manhole chamber.
If you climb up these rungs you come to a small corridor, which runs to the right directly over the middle of the works penstock chamber and shows the workings of the penstock.
Really beautiful stuff, and in great condition!
It was time to climb out and walk down the giants steps.
Firstly, here is the 2 tunnels that run under the moss brook so it can overflow from both the left and right side of the chamber (yes we did crawl from one side to the other!).
Then down the steps!
(someone left a fake drain fairy.. and yes the original is still there!)
(explored with @Ojay , @MartyZero and a non-member)
Inhospitable is a (as the crow flies) 1 and a half kilometer long culvert on the Moss Brook.
This drain includes a peculiar feature, called The Works (you will see why its called that soon).
The Explore
We got to the infall after quite abit of heavy rain, so the Moss Brook was quite abit more lively than usual.
The Infall (quite a few arches in a short distance!)
Water ingress was pouring through the roof in this bit meaning we got abit of a shower on the way in!
Got a tad deep for a small bit but shallowed out into ankle breaking culvert!
When I say ankle breaking, I mean it.
Since it had rained not even hours before our explore, the water had gone all murky and you could not see where you were stepping what so ever.
Either way, we were managing and pressed on.
Some beautiful stalactite formations.
In the distance we noticed a rush of water coming in from a side pipe. Quite a flow on it! No odd smells, so definitely some small watercourse.
As we continued down we noticed the small egg sidepipe, we went up one by one only to notice it had been completely blocked off!
No pics here, but heres one to show size comparison!
Marty decided to crawl out backwards, what a cock!!!!
Some more fancy shots commenced..
Now it was time to enter THE WORKS.
And my god, was it awesome!
Essentially what it is is an overflow for the Moss Brook into the River Irk, similar to how a CSO works except this time its for a natural watercourse.
Our theory for it being built was for a flood defence mechanism for the mills that were located bang next to the outfall of Inhospitable.
They would lower the penstock to completely divert the brook in times of flood out into the River Irk, to prevent any damage to the mills.
Again, this is a theory.
Climbing out on the right you get to a very tall manhole chamber.
If you climb up these rungs you come to a small corridor, which runs to the right directly over the middle of the works penstock chamber and shows the workings of the penstock.
Really beautiful stuff, and in great condition!
It was time to climb out and walk down the giants steps.
Firstly, here is the 2 tunnels that run under the moss brook so it can overflow from both the left and right side of the chamber (yes we did crawl from one side to the other!).
Then down the steps!
(someone left a fake drain fairy.. and yes the original is still there!)
The photo is quite deceiving, but these steps were huge!!
Now it was down to the junction, where a possible second overflow could have been built for whatever other reason.
Silouhette shots 4 the winz!!
From here it changes to spraycrete and also gets deep and silty, we decided to only go so far and then turn back due to the worry of possible rainfall.
But if you were to follow, you would eventually outfall into the River Irk.
Back into Inhospitable because there was something downstream I wanted to see quickly before we made our escape.
We ducked under the penstock and made our way down.
The flooring was even worse, random drop off points and random stoopyness commenced.
We noticed that the water was getting slightly higher, so we hurried up.
Eventually we meet a small RCP pipe into a Storm Drain inspection drop shaft.
Stinky stuff
Then back out into the culvert to make our escape and take a few more fancy shots 'n' clips!
More backlit step shotz.
P37 Guardian.. (long haired ponce)
Then we GTFO!
Off to wetherspoons, and a bowl of nachos me thinks... (Dont you agree Marty?)
Anyway, cheers to the group for bringing me to more of Manchesters drainage system!
Cheers for reading, peace out!
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. Those stalactite formations lite up look like a beautiful chandelier. Really nice set
