History
The River Mersey begins where the Rivers Goyt and Tame meet just outside Stockport town centre. The Mersey divided the town, with the Lancashire Bridge being one of the only crossings in Stockport. This bridge was first mentioned in 1282; the current bridge dates from 1891 and was covered in 1937 when the river was culverted. The bridge was uncovered in 2015 and can be viewed from street level today. The river was culverted in the 1930’s to create Merseyway, a road in the town centre which opened in 1940 and runs above the Mersey. The Merseyway Shopping Centre was built along the Merseyway and first opened in 1965, and was extensively renovated in the 90’s. In 2001 a suggestion was made to set glass panels into the pavements along Merseyway to reveal the river below, however these plans have never been developed. The culvert runs for around 500m below the town centre, starting just after the Rivers Goyt and Tame converge to form the Mersey, and ending near the bus station below the A6. The tunnel is inspected regularly with the aid of a gantry that runs along the roof below the shopping centre; these inspections originally took ten days and five men to complete, however a motorised gantry access platform was added around 2005 to help with this monumental task.
The Explore
As mentioned in a previous report, the gorgeously damp English weather had scuppered plans to explore the culvert we’d been after for a few weeks. Yet again, the guys and I found ourselves at a loss, until someone had the thought that maybe we should check out the other end of the culvert to see where it ended up; lo and behold, we found ourselves at the Merseyway. After having a nosey from street level, we spotted railings in the tunnel and made the leap of logic that there must be some way down. Cue some very covert wandering through the town centre and we were in! The walkway ran as far as the Lancashire Bridge opening near the shopping centre, roughly 430m. It turned out to be a nice leisurely stroll for the most part, except for the bit where there was a very sudden thump and then a LOT of water falling from somewhere above our heads... I don't think I've ever seen three headtorches turned off so fast! Turned out we weren't going to drown and it was probably just someone flushing a toilet somewhere up above.
The scary water...
Our best guess as to where the other culvert joins the Mersey
Where the culvert opens up at Lancashire Bridge
The River Mersey begins where the Rivers Goyt and Tame meet just outside Stockport town centre. The Mersey divided the town, with the Lancashire Bridge being one of the only crossings in Stockport. This bridge was first mentioned in 1282; the current bridge dates from 1891 and was covered in 1937 when the river was culverted. The bridge was uncovered in 2015 and can be viewed from street level today. The river was culverted in the 1930’s to create Merseyway, a road in the town centre which opened in 1940 and runs above the Mersey. The Merseyway Shopping Centre was built along the Merseyway and first opened in 1965, and was extensively renovated in the 90’s. In 2001 a suggestion was made to set glass panels into the pavements along Merseyway to reveal the river below, however these plans have never been developed. The culvert runs for around 500m below the town centre, starting just after the Rivers Goyt and Tame converge to form the Mersey, and ending near the bus station below the A6. The tunnel is inspected regularly with the aid of a gantry that runs along the roof below the shopping centre; these inspections originally took ten days and five men to complete, however a motorised gantry access platform was added around 2005 to help with this monumental task.
The Explore
As mentioned in a previous report, the gorgeously damp English weather had scuppered plans to explore the culvert we’d been after for a few weeks. Yet again, the guys and I found ourselves at a loss, until someone had the thought that maybe we should check out the other end of the culvert to see where it ended up; lo and behold, we found ourselves at the Merseyway. After having a nosey from street level, we spotted railings in the tunnel and made the leap of logic that there must be some way down. Cue some very covert wandering through the town centre and we were in! The walkway ran as far as the Lancashire Bridge opening near the shopping centre, roughly 430m. It turned out to be a nice leisurely stroll for the most part, except for the bit where there was a very sudden thump and then a LOT of water falling from somewhere above our heads... I don't think I've ever seen three headtorches turned off so fast! Turned out we weren't going to drown and it was probably just someone flushing a toilet somewhere up above.
The scary water...
Our best guess as to where the other culvert joins the Mersey
Where the culvert opens up at Lancashire Bridge
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