A bit of stream-of-consciousness slapstick, wall-to-wall with visual gags, editing tricks, and effects.
I was out and about exploring Pomona Island when I chanced upon the path which led to the ramp that carries the Metro from Trafford Bar and Pomona to Cornbrook.
It proved to be what is currently known as an immersive experience, not unlike a Gong Bath.
Firstly, some participants become so relaxed that they fall asleep, and the body uses this time to re-balance, restore and nurture itself. Most people however, flit in and out of consciousness and notice their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual responses during the Gong Bath. This opens the possibility of becoming aware of the ‘chattering mind’, your mood or emotional state, visual experiences, physical sensations, intuitive insights, inner wisdom, or spiritual encounters. By keeping your eyes closed and not falling asleep, people can often have a far richer experience.
Except in this instance, one is surrounded by the tumultuous roar of tram upon concrete and steel, with the extra added bonus of pungent canal and associated detritus aromas.
By keeping your eyes open and not falling asleep, people will have a far richer experience.
X1 has launched the first phase of its major Manchester Waters development on the outskirts of the city centre. The development will be delivered in partnership with property developer and landowner Peel and is located on Pomona Island. Phase one will include 755 flats, with the first completions scheduled for 2019.
Thus far phase one has arrived, other phases less so.
A Covid induced hiatus has meant that the masterplan has hit the buffers.
The revamped masterplan, covering almost 25 acres of currently underdeveloped brownfield land, would transform around 60% of the masterplan area into public realm and open space to help promote active lifestyles and the natural beauty of the waterfront site which is surrounded by the Manchester Ship Canal and the Bridgewater Canal.
Over time there has been resistance to the tidal wave of regeneration that is sweeping down the Ship canal engulfing Pomona Island.
Save Pomona are a group of Manchester/Salford and Trafford residents committed to seeing the future of Pomona be a community based and sustainable one rather than a purely commercial one that benefits only a few.
Last Thursday, campaigners aiming to save the old dockland site across the Manchester Ship Canal from Ordsallheld a Pomona Day, and yesterday it was the Pomona Festival as the community turned out to view the wildlife and flora that has sprung up on the abandoned dockland site.
Peel have already cleared most of the scrub, before they submitted the planning application, probably because they know they can get away with it and because they think there is less chance of objection from the public.
Several Years ago Martin Zero celebrated the flowers and fauna in video from.
However the overwhelming might of Peel Holdings, along with the collective commercial imperatives of the local Local Authorities, has proved to be an unstoppable force, with few unmovable objections.
Friday July 4th 2025, I happened to slip through the often locked gates at Cornbrook, to take a look at the current state of play. Over time the site has been mechanically scraped and cleared, but the undergrowth simply grows back again.
The pub was open, but the Alan Boyson mural was in need of repair.
The missing panel, stored in the pub’s cellar was subsequently reinstated.
Then, following a Modernist crowdfunding project instigated by Richard Brook and Christopher Marsden, Alice Vincent-Barwood restored the work, during July 2022.
Sadly in August 2023 the pub lost its licence and remains closed.
Wandering from Town to Moston yesterday, I happened to pass by, so I took some photos, here they are:
Yesterday, Wednesday 21st May 2025, the sun was shining and the tide was out, I decided to walk along the sands, and look towards the land.
To the right the Imperial Hotel – 1866-7 by Clegg and Knowles of Manchester, wing added 1875 by Mangnall and Littlewood.
The hotel was established in 1867. Charles Dickens stayed at the hotel in 1869. In 1904, the hotel was extended with the addition of a large neo-baroque style dining room. In 1912, Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll stayed at the hotel.In the mid 20th century, Winston Churchill, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon and The Beatles stayed at the hotel. Queen Elizabeth II stayed at the hotel when visiting Blackpool. In 1985, Margaret Thatcher celebrated her 60th birthday in the hotel. In 2002, US President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Tony Blair stayed at the hotel for the Labour party conference.
Join us at The Imperial Hotel Blackpool for an unforgettable experience where entertainment, family fun, and group leisure come together. Book now and start creating memories that will last a lifetime.
Grand Hotel – the hotel was built as the Pembroke Hotel in 1982, became the Hilton Hotel in 1999 and The Grand Hotel in 2017
The hotel was built next to the site of the Derby Baths 1939 – architect: John Charles Robinson who between 1920-1944 designed many of Blackpool’s landmark civic buildings including libraries, schools, swimming baths, leisure facilities and tourist infrastructure.
The Savoy Hotel, just north of Gynn Square, is one of the series of large red brick and red terracotta hotels built around the turn of the century. The architect was TG Lumb and the hotel opened in 1915; the sun lounge in Hathern’s cream faience was added in 1935 by Lumb and Walton.
The Cliffs Hotel started in 1921 – architect Halstead Best substantially rebuilt and enlarged the building 1936–37 and added an underground carpark
Castle Casino – architect: Arthur Hindle 1906
Arthur Knowles built the Castle at 64 Queens Promenade North Shore for his wife, who unfortunately stayed in France. The couple stayed in the house for a mere nine months during 1929. Apart from housing Belgian refugees during World War 1, it stayed empty until 1935. It then opened briefly as an old people’s home, before being bought by Lawrence Wright – AKA Horatio Nicholls, as his home.
Wright sold it in 1941, and after several years as the home of the Blackpool and Fylde Motor Club, it became the Castle Casino of today in 1965, first owned by wrestler Jack Pye, who moved to Blackpool in 1950. It has had various identities, and was last taken over in 2005, now being known as the Genting Club – part of a national chain of that name.
Former Miners Convalescent Home 1925-27 – architects: Bradshaw Gass & Hope, Grade II listed
Converted to apartments in 2005 – trading as Admiral Point.
Norbreck Castle Hotel originally built as a large private country house in 1869, it was bought around the end of the 19th century by JH Shorrocks, who used the house to entertain friends and colleagues at lavish weekend parties. The popularity of these parties led to Shorrocks running them on a commercial basis by taking paying guests.
The S Block by architect WH Longworth 1912 – the N Block by Halstead Best 1933-34.
In the 1970’s the Motel wing was added along with, the large Norcalympia exhibition hall, the name was changed from the Norbreck Hydro to Norbreck Castle.
European Regional Development Fund cash of £450,000 was granted towards a regeneration project on Cleveleys Promenade. Wyre Council improved 64,000 sq ft of the promenade to create a more attractive place for visitors to the town. The latest work complements the £20m sea defence installation.
Broadbent Studio worked collaboratively from the outset with Wyre Council, Ferguson & McIlveen and Faber Maunsell in 2008, to create an exciting new promenade and sea defence scheme for the coastline at Cleveleys.
The Sea Swallow is a 10m tall structure that brings to life Wyre’s Mythic Coast storybook ‘The Sea Swallow’. The coated aluminium sculpture, has the feel of ‘a book coming to life’, with the two sea swallows symbolic of the town’s protectors emerging from the page.
Once upon many times ago we all went to Belle Vue – formed from John Jennison’s Victorian pleasure gardens and zoo, into an inner city funfair and entertainment extravaganza.
I went to the circus, competed in school sports days, watched the wrestling and music, I still go to the speedway – Belle Vue Aces now racing at the nearby National Speedway Stadium.
Then one day it all fell apart.
In 1979 the amusement park was leased to the main concessionaire, Alf Wadbrooke, although by then it was only open at weekends during the summer season. The long-promised restoration of the Scenic Railway had not happened and the Water Chute had closed. In August 1980, Wadbrooke was given notice to close down the park by 26 October 1980 and to have all his equipment removed by February 1981.
In 1963 the Top Lake, formerly known as the Great Lake, was filled in and a 32-lane ten-pin bowling alley built on its site, just behind the Lake Hotel.
Known as the Belle Vue Granada Bowl, it opened in 1965, advertised as “the north’s leading luxury centre”. In 1983, after the rest of Belle Vue had closed, it was sold to First Leisure Group, and bowling continued for a time.
Wikipedia
The 32-lane Granada Bowl at Belle Vue, Manchester is believed to have been the first centre to be opened by Granada and the centre went on to become one of the most successful in the country.
The centre was equipped with lanes and machines supplied by AMF and the rest of the centre was well appointed with a licensed bar and food operation. The centre was a joint operation between Granada and Belle Vue with two directors from each company on the board of Belle Vue Granada Bowl Limited.
To mark the opening ceremony Lee Kates, with the support of the band of the 8th Battalion of the Manchester Regiment and trumpeters of the Duke of Lancaster’s Own Yeomanry, introduced Granada’s Mr Chapman, who made a short speech and welcomed the guests. The golden ball was handed to guest Pat Phoenix, star of the TV soap Coronation Street, to roll the first ball.
Gala Bingo came and went too.
Buzz Bingo have announced plans to close nine of their 91 clubs across the country.
One of those earmarked for closure is the club at Belle Vue. Bosses are blaming the dwindling number of players following the Covid lockdowns as well as the ‘ongoing and challenging operating environment’ of increased energy bills and other costs.
The William Mitchell concrete panels are of a modular design, rotated to form distinct groups of horizontal and vertical rhythms. A number of the buildings elevations are clad in linear, diagonal and vertical forms, though the majority are curvilinear and organic.
Local Image Collection 1972
The Ellen Wilkinson building, home to Education and Communication, is one of the few buildings on campus named after a woman. She gained the nickname of ‘Red Ellen’ in her political career, due to her socialist politics and vibrant red hair colour.
Wilkinson was a successful Labour party politician and feminist activist, and a passionate and bold personality in the Houses of Parliament. She was made Minister of Education under Clement Atlee’s government, making her the second woman to ever get a role in the British cabinet. She was brought up and educated in Manchester, making her legacy on the Manchester campus even more significant.
Ellen Wilkinson is a large sized building with three blocks. There are six floors in C Block, five floors in B Block and seven floors in A Block.
There are three lifts and six main staircases within the building.
The floors are signed as Ground, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. This is slightly different inside the lifts where control buttons are marked as 0 instead of Ground.
There are link passages from A and B Block to C Block on levels Ground, 1 and 3.
This scheme pre-dates Wilson Womersley’s appointment as masterplanners for the Education Precinct but exists harmoniously with the later series of buildings. This is most likely due to the method of development before any ‘grand concept’. The incremental expansion of the University, following WWII, was largely dictated by the progress of compulsory purchase orders; this group was no exception. At the planning stages, the lack of a masterplan led to organising the wings of the buildings in an open, orthogonal arrangement. This would allow expansion in a number of directions, according to the next available site in ‘the dynamic situation’. The result was the creation of a small courtyard flanked by two five-storey blocks and a two-storey structure. All three buildings use the same pink-grey concrete. The plastic qualities of concrete were explored in both cladding and structural panels and the textural qualities exposed in the bush hammered columns, to reveal the Derbyshire gravel aggregate. The sculpted and moulded panels on the two-storey block and on the gable ends of the larger blocks were designed in collaboration with William Mitchell. The only other materials in the external envelope were the windows of variously clear and tinted glass. The window modules were set out against a basic geometry in three standard patterns and applied across the façade. This resulted in a clever interplay of vertical and horizontal expression. Phase II, a seven-storey teaching block, was not as refined in its details.
I was invited by Richard Brook to tick off the names of those attending the launch of his book.
The book was launched at the City Tower, part of the Piccadilly Plaza development.
We began at the top – up in the lift to floor twenty eight the Sky Lounge.
On display were the architectural drawings of the Piccadilly Plaza scheme – including my favourite spiral car park ramp.
Back to the ground floor to administer the entrance of exactly eighty eight participants.
Who were subdivide by coloured dot, into sub groups for the forthcoming tour – a tour of the sub basement.
Former home of the diesel boilers – temporary home to eighty eight and a bit Modernists.
A talk or two later and it was almost all over, biggest thanks to Richard, Manchester University Press, The Plaza and the Modernists.
Testament to one man’s healthy preoccupation with Manchester’s modern history and the legion of fellow travellers that have supported and encouraged him down the years.
Health and safety regulations state that markings should be placed around obstacles or dangerous locations. This includes where any of the following present a risk:
people tripping or falling
objects falling
people or vehicles colliding with objects
These markings should be made up of alternating red and white or yellow and black stripes of equal size at a 45 degree angle. Barricade tape can be used to satisfy this requirement as long as the tape is “commensurate with the scale of the obstacle or dangerous location in question”
I hereby lay claim to this symbol, sign, icon, the combination of black and yellow, wherever it may appear, in this or any other world, in whatever shape, form, pattern or composition, be it civil or military. I hereby claim to be its originator and owner.
Designed by Ben Kelly, upon recommendation by Factory graphic designer Peter Saville, upstairs consisted of a stage, dance area, bar, cloakroom, cafeteria area and balcony with a DJ booth.
The Haçienda was opened on 21 May 1982, when the comedian Bernard Manning remarked to the audience:
I’ve played some shit-holes during my time, but this is really something.
His jokes did not go down well with the crowd and he returned his fee.
The black and yellow stripes on Manchester City’s away shirts were meant to be an uplifting homage to Manchester’s cultural heritage, but the choice of design now risks becoming a chip on the team’s shoulders.
The team’s jersey is embroiled in a controversy after Ben Kelly, the man who originally designed the stripes for famed Manchester nightclub the Haçienda, complained in a recent interview to Gaffer magazine that he was not credited or consulted by the creators of the football apparel.
When Manchester City and Puma launched the team’s 2019/20 kit last July, they said in a press release that the uniform paid tribute to the “Madchester” years of the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the city in north-west England became a hub of alternative music and dance culture.
Thanks to L Kaye and the Manchester Local Image Collection there is a photographic record of Tib Street through the years.
Shot on 35mm black and white film, cautiously clad in gaberdine and trilby. The legwork aside the processing and printing of a whole heap of exposures was a gargantuan task.
The river’s source is a spring in Miles Platting , from where it flows underneath Oldham Road and the eponymous Tib Street to reach the city centre. After flowing underneath West Mosley Street, the Tib crosses Princess Street to flow underneath the Manchester Town Hall Extension, the Central Library and the Midland Hotel’s dining room, before joining the Medlock at Gaythorn (now First Street, close to Deansgate railway station.
The distinctive street signs the work of my old pal Tim Rushton.
There are those who will remember Tib Street, as a street of pet shops.
Whilst on Sundays the area was transformed into an al fresco menagerie – a land of caged birds and cuddly coneys.
I have long been curious about the faience fronted shop on the corner of Tib and Swan Streets, it featured on my modernist mooch around the north of the city centre.
I have been informed by Lee Hutchings that it had originally been home to Tuttils Ltd.
It was also, formerly the showrooms for local manufacturers Johnson & Nephew.
Here it is in 1959 – with a Burton’s for a neighbour.
Pragmatic Manchester is far from awash with Art Deco – the lost Paramount/Odeon of Oxford Street comes to mind, demolished in 2017.
The Paramount Theatre was built in 1930 to the designs of architects Frank T. Verity & Samuel Beverley for the U.K. arm of the American Paramount Theatres Ltd. chain. The Manchester Paramount Theatre was a sumptuous American import.
Along with the Rylands Building on High Street – currently receiving a facelift following the demise of Debenhams.
The building was originally built as a warehouse by J. Gerrard & Sons of Swinton for the Rylands textile company, which was founded by the entrepreneur John Rylands. That firm had occupied warehouses in High Street ever since 1822; its west-facing side is on High Street. The building was designed by the eminent Manchester architects, Fairhursts – Harry S. & P. G. Fairhurst, in an Art Deco style. It is clad in Portland stone and features a decorative corner tower and eclectic ‘zig zag’ window lintels. The work was completed in 1932.
Rylands will be sensitively restored to its elegant past. The building will comprise workspace, retail and leisure, creating an exciting new destination in Central Manchester.
I began walking when quite young, then like Felix, I kept on walking, walking still.
The photograph was taking during the Whit Walks in 1958 – aged three, I was engaged in religious pilgrimage, as we know there are many reasons for walking, this is but one.
I was fortunate to grow up at a time when youngsters were permitted to roam freely, less traffic, less anxiety, gave me access to a wider axis of exploration.
The photograph would have been taken I assume, by my mam, on the Brownie 127. When aged nine I wandered alone through the local woods and exposed twelve frames of 44mm 127 film, the prints are long gone, yet I remember each of the photographs and locations clearly.
I went to school, then I didn’t, then I went to Art School, eventually becoming a teenage Constructivist, tutored by Jeffrey Steele, a leading light in the British Systems movement.
The rigidity of the grid, symmetry and orthogonal framing have stayed with me.
Then I went to work for a very long time indeed, then all of a sudden I didn’t. Taking early retirement aged 59 some ten years ago, subsequently taking to the roads, streets and hills of Britain in search of nothing in particular.
In recent years there has been a rapid development in the culture of walking, theories, films, guides, songs and literature. I am fully cognisant of such, yet believe at heart that walking can be free of such baggage, we can stride unhindered, atavistic and carefree/less.
Walk tall, walk straight and look the world right in the eye.
Getting lost is about the unfamiliar appearing.
In my own small way, I have become part of that baggage, having been asked to lead a walk around Stockport by the the modernist neé Manchester Modernist Society.
The photograph depicts Alan Boyson’s concrete screen wall, attached to the former Cooperative super store designed by Philip Andrew. The two worked to gather on the Hull Cooperative store, which is adorned by Alan’s huge Three Ships mosaic.
Philip was a childhood friend of Alan Boyson and it was Alan’s father, manager of the Marple Co-operative Society, that recommended Philip for an apprenticeship job in 1951 to the chief architect at the CWS in Manchester HQ.
In preparation for the tour, I visited the town’s Local Heritage Library and read extensively from serendipitous charity shop finds.
The two hour route was designed around an economy of distance and elevation, allowing time for others to take in, what may be for them unfamiliar surroundings. A group of around twenty or so folk became sociable and engaged, with a suitably concise and apposite contribution from myself. There are those who busied themselves taking snaps along the way, chatting amiably or simply gazing in amazement.
The service building above the former Debenham’s store.
Famed as an imaginary TV police station, this civic building is a civic building I simply can’t resist. I return on a regular basis to wander and snap. This is an open public space that seems little loved and has few visitors.
From then onwards I have been taking folks on Modernist Mooches on a regular basis, two or so a month, during the less inclement times of year.
At about the same time I was asked to exhibit my photographs in Stockport, I chose to mooch about at night. Walking around an almost deserted town, avoiding the glare of streetlights, there is a mild frisson to be about when nobody else is about. The air feels different, exposures are longer, the almost waking world feels arrested, by the low available light.
My local shopping centre and as such part of my weekly walking and shopping life.
NCP Car Park located on Stockport Station approach.
Regent House
Asda superstore
I found a copy of Charlie Meecham’s book Oldham Road in a charity shop.
Inspiring me in 2014, to walk in mostly straight lines, though often as not zig zagging along the main arterial roads of Manchester.
Taking pictures on Sunday mornings, in order to avoid traffic, mildly amused to be ignoring the primary function of the routes.
This is one of the more familiar roads, having walked up and down several times over several years. It was to have been an extension of the Mancunian Way, forming a trans-pennine motorway. Much of the property lining the route was cleared in preparation, it was never built, and for years a strange semi-deserted ambience hung over the A57.
Bus Depot
Railway Bridge
The car showrooms which later became an African Evangalist church.
Having cleared away both Victorian and Sixties housing, new architectural forms arose in West Gorton.
Now, everywhere I go, I see launderettes – so arriving in Hanley with time on my hands, wandering around I found this exemplary example.
Having a blog entitled Manchester Estate Pubs, the national media became interested in my photographs. I had spent quite some time, wandering around in search of this endangered architectural typology.
This was Billy Greens in Collyhurst, named for a local boxer, now demolished.
Which in turn became the second modernist calendar.
Followed the following year by fish and chip shops.
So building a vocabulary for my mooching, discovering yet another chippy, laundry, pub, Burton’s, telephone exchange, glazed stairway or underpass.
These things find you, yearning for some small amount of attention and affection.
The Trawl – my favourite peg board menu, my favourite Bridlington chippy.
We are now coming to the end of the car park year – seen here on the wall of my command centre.
Home to William Mitchell’s Totem, the homes long gone and the Council pledged to move the totem too.
The state of play this week, the detritus removed and the base filled in, repaved and safe for a while.
Off now to the Weaver Valley another day another river, passing under Weaver Viaduct
The looking toward KouraGlobal – leader in the development, manufacture, and supply of fluoro products and technologies, opened a new HFA 152a production facility at their Runcorn site in the UK.
Further rural Modernism as we pass under and traverse the M62, whilst walking around the Piethorn Valley
The newest of the Modernist Mooches was to Burnley where we visited the Keirby Hotel.
The former GUS Offices with a mural by Diane and William Morris.
Plus the Charles Anderson concrete relief at the Crow Wood Hotel.
Finally a little light relief – a visit to the Boots factory in Nottingham.
Having innocently board a bus outside the station with a Boots head code , I alighted within the factory gates. Then innocently walking around taking snaps, unheeded until the men in the van stopped me in my tracks.
Who are you, what are you doing?
I am the Modern Moocher going about my business – well it turns out this was not permitted and I was red carded by the earnest security guards and asked to leave forthwith. Suitably rebuked, I politely bade them farewell and headed for the gates.
The masterplan states that Radcliffe has many unattractive buildings and few architectural assets. But this could work to its advantage as a lack of protected or noteworthy buildings makes it easier to replace them with contemporary structures.
This could include demolishing the “unwelcoming” St Thomas Estate and replacing it with a mix of private and social housing on the old street layout. Existing tenants would be rehoused in the new houses so that the community would not be broken up.
During his term, Sheffield’s housing grew upwards with multi-storey flats constructed at Low Edges, Park Hill, Hyde Park, Netherthorpe and Woodside. It was Womersley’s response to 13,000 families on the council’s waiting list and 10,000 condemned properties waiting to be demolished.
In the space of a decade they shaped Manchester’s urban fabric, leaving a questionable legacy. The technical quality of their buildings was undoubtedly poor, but their qualities – bold forms, monolithic materiality and streets-in-the-sky – were of the moment, and captured a particular brand of urban renewal, imported from North America and inflected through British post-war planning.
Social housing has been, and continues to be, a contentious arena. This seemingly well-constructed estate was once deemed unfit for habitation by its residents.
Tenants of the St Thomas’ Estate in the town centre allege they have been forgotten by Six Town Housing, which manages the properties.
Magda Csatlos, former chairman of the now disbanded Tenants and Residents Association said rotten bricks with visible gaps between them, badly-designed leaking roofs and damp and mouldy conditions plague many of the 90 homes.
Happily the Local Authority are able to remedy the problem.
After some residents on the estate, who were visited by Bury South MP Ivan Lewis, called for the properties to be “condemned”, the Council agreed to invest £2 million to bring the homes up to standard.
A total of 90 social housing properties on St Thomas Estate have been provided with new external rendering, roofing, windows, doors, insulation and brick cladding.
Along with the Renold Building– which is already home to start up tech businesses.
The city council has approved Bruntwood SciTech’s change of use bid to transform the 110,000 sq ft Renold building into a tech and science hub.
In a joint venture with the University of Manchester, Bruntwood will create 42,000 sq ft coworking and business incubator spaces for businesses in the sector at the Altrincham Street building.
Sister is Manchester’s new innovation district. A £1.7bn investment into the city, its setting – the former University of Manchester North Campus and UMIST site – is steeped in science and engineering history. Home to the UK’s most exciting new ideas and disruptive technologies, Sister is a worldclass innovation platform in the heart of one of the most exciting global cities. It stands as the city’s symbol of a new era of discovery that promises progress against humanity’s greatest challenges.
So it is with a bitter sweet feeling that I took a group of Modernist Moochers around the site this Saturday – a number of whom had been students there.
As a former UMIST student 1990-1997, I had a wander round the old site recently, sad to see it so empty and run-down.
So let’s take a look at the current state of affairs.
Built between1954-5 by the Manchester City Architect’s Department, Chief Architect Leonard C Howitt, for the Manchester Corporation Waterworks. Alan Atkinson, engineer. Incorporates large relief by Mitzi Cunliffe, signed and dated 1955. Yorkshire sandstone, with Westmorland greenstone from Broughton Moor used as relief. Roof not seen above dentiled overhang.
Carved relief is a highly stylised depiction of the bringing of water from Haweswater to Manchester with contemporary figures supporting the pipeline and a curious flat relief designed to be seen from below. It was designed to commemorate those who constructed it as well as the origin and course of the aqueduct. Beneath it five plaques tell the history of the Haweswater supply.
Completely preserved interior fully lined in beige marble, with contrasting green marble skirting continued as door surround. Behind the Cunliffe mural is a wood relief section in sycamore depicting the 82 mile route of the pipe.
The bringing of water to Manchester from a new reservoir at Haweswater was a major undertaking which cost £14,000,000. The sectional relief plan and the mural were conceived as part of the original brief to give a ‘monumental’ character to the city’s remarkable achievement. Included as a remarkable synthesis of architectural design and fine sculpture, with the dominance of the latter in this tiny building. The building materials and the reliefs are all symbolic of the achievement in bringing of water from the Lake District to Manchester.
In 1929 work started to build the dam wall across the valley floor. At the time of construction, its design was considered to be at the forefront of civil engineering technology because it was the world’s first hollow buttress dam.
Before the valley was flooded in 1935, all the farms and dwellings of the villages of Mardale Green and Measand were demolished, as well as the centuries-old Dun Bull Inn at Mardale Green. The village church was dismantled and the stone used in constructing the dam; all the bodies in the churchyard were exhumed and re-buried at Shap.
I have previously led Mitzi Cunliffe walks in south Manchester – taking in her works at Owens Park and Manchester High School for Girls.
Mitzi Cunliffe is primarily known as the designer of the BAFTA Award, but her work encompasses both ceramics and textiles, in addition to her extensive public art works – as illustrated here.
Mitzi Cunliffe – An American in Manchester is available from the Modernist Shop.
I took the tram to Heaton Park Station and walked the rest of the way.
The imposing structure, clad in the dramatic relief dominates this domesticated street of well behaved semis. As I stood admiring the work, a passerby joined me in a mutual appreciation of its beauty and significance.
Do yourself a favour – take a trip, take a look for yourself.
To begin at the beginning, to begin at Baitings Reservoir.
Wakefield Corporation Waterworks started impounding the valley of the River Ryburn in the 1930s, with Ryburn Reservoir being completed in 1933. Construction on Baitings took place 20 years later with completion in 1956. Baitings Bridge, on an old road linking Yorkshire and Lancashire, was to be flooded under the reservoir so a concrete viaduct was built. During spells of very hot weather and drought conditions, the old packhorse bridge is revealed.
Wakefield Express: 31st August 1955
The dam head is a curved structure that is 1,540 feet long and over 160 feet high. The reservoir covers 59 acres and has a catchment of 1,830 acres , and when it is full, it holds over 113,000,000 cubic feet of water. The dam took eight years to complete at a cost of £1.4 million, and is located at 840 feet above sea level. A tunnel connects reservoirs in valleys to the north with Baitings to allow for the transfer of water. Manshead Tunnel is 8,000 feet long and was opened in 1962.
Inconveniently, the footpath to the lower Ryburn Reservoir was closed – we were diverted over the dam.
We took the pathway to Booth Wood Reservoir – over Pike End and beyond.
We dropped down beneath the Booth WoodDam.
Booth Wood Reservoir is a man-made upland reservoir that lies north of the M62 motorway and south of the A672 road near to Rishworth and Ripponden in Calderdale, West Yorkshire. The reservoir was approved for construction in 1966 and completed in 1971.
It supplies water to Wakefield.
The reservoir dams the Booth Dean Clough watercourse and takes water directly from the surrounding moorland. It has a plain concrete crest on the dam head which is straight and extends to a length of 1,150 feet and a height of 157 feet.
Below is a dinky pumping station, tucked beneath the dam.
We took a precipitous path through the wood – up to the level of the reservoir.
Under the the M62 and past the infamous Stott Hall Farm.
Stott Hall Farm is a farm located between the eastbound and westbound carriageways of the M62 motorway in Calderdale. It is the only farm in the UK situated in the middle of a motorway and was built in the 18th century on Moss Moor. It lies south of Booth Wood Reservoir where the carriageways are separated between junctions 22 and 23. The road divides for much of its length between the Windy Hill and Deanhead cuttings because of the surrounding geography; but a myth persists that it was split because Ken and Beth Wild refused to sell. However, the farm was actually owned by Yorkshire Water at the time the M62 was built.
We walked over the upland moors to meet with the Catchwater, which formerly fed the Ringstone Edge Reservoir, prior to the construction of the motorway cutting.
Climbing again over Cow Gate Hill to meet the Saddleworth Road.
Crossing the motorway and dropping down to meet the Scammonden Dam.
Scammonden Dam is part of the M62 motorway between junctions 22 and 23, the only such structure in Britain. Its construction by the Ministry of Transport and Huddersfield Corporation Waterworks required the passing of the Huddersfield Corporation Act 1965. The motorway dam spans the Deanhead Valley in the Pennines between Huddersfield and Rochdale and the main contractor for the project was Sir Alfred McAlpine & Sons.
It was designed by Rofe, Kennard and Lapworth
Surveying began in November 1961 and the route of the carriageway was determined in mid 1963. Excavation in the Deanhead Valley commenced the following year and for the dam in 1966. This required the removal of 25,200,000 cu ft of peat bog to reach the solid rock base nearly 43 ft below ground level. Material excavated elsewhere on the line of the motorway, clay from cuttings between Lofthouse and Gildersome, and 3.4 million cubic metres from the Deanhead excavations was used to build the dam’s embankment which is 2,051 ft in length and 207 ft above the original valley floor. The embankment is 1,427 ft wide at its base and 180 ft at road level.
Scammonden steps comprises five flights of steps up the hillside from the valley below. Totaling 458 steps, the cumulative step count when ascending each of the five flights is 95, 200, 287, 363 then 458.
At the base of the dam is this delightful Pumping House.
The motorway, which was dependent on the completion of the dam, was opened to traffic on 20th December 1970 and officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II who unveiled a plaque near the valve tower of Scammonden Water on 14 October 1971.
Ascending and looking back toward Scammonden Bridge also known locally as the Brown Cow Bridge – after the nearby Brown Cow Inn, now closed, spans the Deanhead cutting carrying the B6114.
The bridge was built for the West Riding County Council to the designs of the county surveyor, Colonel S Maynard Lovell.
It opened to traffic on Monday 18 May 1970 by Major Bruce Eccles – Huddersfield Transport ran buses to see the bridge.
Blackpool Council says it remains committed to the Blackpool Central project amid the potential collapse of the developer leading the works.
But warning alarms sounded this week when Nikal – which was hired to oversee the project – filed a notice of intent to appoint administrators.
The £300m Blackpool Central development is billed as the biggest single investment in the town in more than a century and is planned to involve a “world-class leisure development” which would create 1,000 new jobs, bring an extra 600,000 visitors per year, and boost annual spend in the town by around £75m.
A spokesperson for Blackpool Council told the Blackpool Lead:
We have been working on the enabling phase of Blackpool Central over the last few years. The new multi-storey car park opened earlier this summer and we are currently completing preparations to demolish the old police station and courts building early in the New Year.
The proposals for the Bonny Street area can be seen here.
Plans for the area have hit further problems.
A new £40m magistrates courthouse is facing building delays after the project’s main contractor collapsed.Blackpool’s magistrates court was one of twenty two projects belonging to construction giant ISG, which was working on the scheme for the Ministry of Justice.
But the firm went into administration in September, leaving two thousand two hundred workers at risk of redundancy, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.
Work was due to start early next year with a completion date expected in 2026.
The town needs all the help it can get, time has not been too kind, whilst efforts have been made to invigorate the area around Blackpool North and the promenade, the back streets reflect the legacy of years of deprivation.
Blackpool ranks as one of the most deprived areas in the UK. Many people were already in poverty, and the cost of living pressures are having the biggest impact on this group, who need to spend a greater proportion of their incomes on household essentials. It is also affecting people on low and middle incomes, often surviving by having several jobs, who are being pushed into poverty. More people are turning to services for support, and as the winter progresses this is a serious concern.
I have no wish to poor scorn on the area – but a short walk around the streets approximate to the coast tells a tale of failed businesses, decay and decline.
Happily there are the seeds of recovery in evidence, in the form of newly built housing.
The executive report outlines an area of regeneration to the South of the town centre. It lies broadly between Chapel Street and Rigby Road, and the Promenade and Central Drive. These have been identified as the initial areas of focus for detailed scheme development, community engagement and property acquisitions in preparation for future development.
Arriving at and looking around the Interchange – 1980 architects: Essex Goodman & Suggitt
It is the northern terminus of the Manchester Metrolink’s Bury Line, which prior to 1992 was a heavy-rail line.
A new short spur line was constructed to connect the new station. The railway had originally run into Bury Bolton Street which was further away from the town centre, and was closed by British Rail on the same day that Bury Interchange opened.
It also incorporates a bus station.
Bury Interchange replaced the bus termini scattered around Bury town centre, notably around Kay Gardens.
An £80m transformation is coming to the Bury Interchange, which will see step-free access at the Metrolink, a “vertical circulation core” to better connect the Metrolink with the bus facility, and an integrated travel hub with spaces for cycle storage.
The work is much-needed, explained Transport for Greater Manchester’s Alan Lowe, he said that the interchange was built in the 1980s and very much is of its time.
The Art Picture Palace was a 1923 rebuild of the earlier Art Picture Hall both designed by architect Albert Winstanley. The Art Picture Palace was opened on 26th January 1923. A remarkably complete survivor of a 1920’s cine-variety house executed in an elaborate style.
Films ceased in February 1965 and it became a bingo club. Later converted into a billiard hall until 19th May 1991 when it became a bingo club again, it later became a Chicago Rock Cafe.
Cinema Treasures
Next door a typical steel glass and brick banded office block Maple House.
Around the corner and over the road to the Town Hall 1939-40 architects: Reginald Edmonds of Jackson & Edmonds then 1947-54.
Large and Dull – Niklaus Pevsner.
Back through the Interchange to the former Cooperative Store of the 1930’s.
The Portland Stone towers still visible – the elevation largely retro-clad in glass.
Passing through the Millgate Shopping Centre of the 1980’s.
Unambitious but successful, the floors cheerfully tiled – Niklaus Pevsner.
Down in the subway at midday.
The better to get a view of the Market Hall 1971 – architects: Harry S Fairhurst.
The Indoor Market Hall is currently closed due to the discovery of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete – within the building structure. RAAC is a lightweight type of building material that was used between the 1950s and 1990s.
Back under the road – where we find a delightful Telephone Exchange.
The Rock is a vibrant retail and leisure centre which is home to a range of high street fashion brands, independent retailers, tantalising eateries and fantastic entertainment – it’s the perfect place to visit any day of the week.
It is the work of architects BDP – completed in 2010 at a cost of £350 million.
Our masterplan for The Rock took into account the historical street pattern and public realm context to give the scheme its own identity, and make visual connections to local landmarks.
The retail and leisure scheme brings many exciting brands to Bury for the first time.
New pedestrian streets rejuvenate and improve connections to adjacent areas stitching the town back together.
The development will also contain 408 one and two-bedroom apartments.
Back to basics at a former Burton’s hiding its faience facade.
Typical inter-war infill on our crazy mixed up mongrel high streets.
Ribblesdale House
Application by Shop and Store Developments Ltd submitted August 1965. Architect on application was Samuel Jackson and Son of Ocean Chambers in Bradford but during the application process this changed to John Brunton & Partners – Brunton was a partner in Jackson’s firm, at the same address. It had a restaurant and shops on the first floor.
The street level buildings were destroyed by fire on 14 May 1947 and were replaced with a new brick and concrete entrance and footbridge in 1952.
British Rail closed the station on 17 March 1980, when it was replaced by a new bus/rail interchange station further east into the town centre. Bury Interchange railway station served up until 1991 before the entire Bury Line was converted to light rail operation. It reopened in 1992 for Metrolink operation.
Bury was once the centre of multiple train links and the lost station of Knowsley Street.
Over the road the former Temperance Billiard Hall 1910 architect Norman Evans.
Planning application January 1965 – work started in June 1965. The architectural firm was Richard Byrom, Hill and partners. Richard Byrom was submitting building applications in the 1930s in Bury and locally.
The rendering on the building is original but the windows have been changed. The Job Centre took over the building in 1993. It is in a conservation area and the Civic Trust had some concerns!
Many thanks to David French for the above information.
Modern Mooch 