Having photographed the arterial roads of Manchester in 2014, I have resolved to return to the task in 2024.
Some things seem to have changed, some things seem to have stayed the same.
Manchester Arterial 2024 – A57
Manchester Arterial 2024 – A6
Having photographed the arterial roads of Manchester in 2014, I have resolved to return to the task in 2024.
Some things seem to have changed, some things seem to have stayed the same.
Manchester Arterial – A5103
The A5103 is a major thoroughfare running south from Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester city centre to the M56 in Northenden. The road is two-lane dual carriageway with a few grade-separated junctions. It is used by many as a link to the airport and to the motorway network south.
The road starts at Piccadilly Gardens where it meets the A6. It heads along Portland Street – at one time it ran along the parallel Mosley Street, past fast-food outlets and off-licences and then meets the A34 Oxford Street. It multiplexes with that road north for 200 yards into St Peter’s Square and then turns left into Lower Mosley Street, initially alongside the tramlines and then past the former Manchester Central station, now a conference centre with the same name. The road becomes Albion Street and goes over the Bridgewater Canal and under the railway line east of Deansgate station. The road then meets the A57(M) Mancunian Way at a roundabout interchange. This is where most of the traffic joins and leaves.
The road is now 2×2 dual carriageway with the name Princess Road. It passes under the Hulme Arch, a grade-separated junction with the A5067, with an unusually large central reservation. This is presumably because of the proposed plans from the 1960s of a motorway. However, after passing under the junction, there are innumerate sets of traffic lights, with the B5219, the A6010 and the A5145, as well as many other unsigned roads. There are also many speed cameras set at 30 mph.
The road picks up pace as we exit the sprawl of South Manchester and the road becomes Princess Parkway, with a 50 mph speed limit. We cross the River Mersey and almost immediately hit the M60 at J5.
Except for the Manchester City Centre section – which was numbered A5068, this road did not exist on classification in 1922. Princess Road was built in 1932 to serve the new southwestern suburbs; initially it ran between the B5219 and A560 and was numbered B5290, with the road later extended north into the A5068 on the southern edge of the city centre and renumbered A5103.
The northern extension through Hulme initially followed previously existing roads, so followed a zigzag route. As part of the road’s upgrade and the reconstruction of Hulme in the 1970s the road was straightened and the original route can no longer be seen. The A5068 was severed around this time with the construction of the A57(M) and the A5103 took on its city-centre section, taking it to the A6.
See also Bury New Road and Cheetham Hill Road and Rochdale Road and Oldham Road and Ashton New Road and Ashton Old Road and Hyde Road and Stockport Road and Kingsway.
Manchester Arterial – A34
The A34 is a major route from the ports on the South Coast of England to the Midlands and the North West, with the standard varying from rural dual carriageway sections in the south to urban single carriageway in the north, and everything else in between.
Slade Lane junction, Rushford Park to Parr’s Wood, East Didsbury – to connect to Manchester Road to Cheadle. It continued on to Laneside Road as a residential road. Opened on 11 April 1923 by Mary Cundiff, Lady Mayoress, and Margaret Turnbull, daughter of Alderman Turnbull, Chairman of Manchester Town Planning Committee. Width was 100 feet and it was designed for tram tracks in the central reservation. The dual road carriageways were 20 feet wide. Manchester’s tram system was closed in 1949. The carriageways were widened and central reservation grassed over. Originally opened as A5079.
Laneside Road, East Didsbury to Schools Hill/ Wilmslow Road junction, Cheadle. Opened on 12 October 1959. The official opening was on 15 October 1959. Planning for the bypass had been halted by the war. In December 1949 Manchester Corporation stated that it was not a priority since the Corporation was only responsible for the 200 yards to the proposed bridge over the River Mersey and Cheshire County Council had not asked for a joint approach to Ministry of Transport to build it. Work was finally authorised in January 1957 and started in the June. Width was 90 feet with dual 24 foot carriageways. Expected cost was £600,000 to £700,000.
In 2014, having taken early retirement from teaching photography, I embarked on a series of walks along the arterial roads of Manchester.
See also Bury New Road and Cheetham Hill Road and Rochdale Road and Oldham Road and Ashton New Road and Ashton Old Road and Hyde Road and Stockport Road.
Manchester Arterial – A6
The A6 is Britain’s fourth longest road. Its route varies greatly from the lower lands of the South East, though the Peak District, right though the heart of Manchester city centre, then onwards towards Preston. It then goes though the historic city of Lancaster before skirting the Eastern fringe of the Lake District before ending in Carlisle, bang on the start of the A7.
North from Stockport towards Manchester, the A6 was a wide, four lane road, but still 30 mph, which usually flowed pretty well. According to Mudge, it looks like it has now been massacred by bus lanes and red paint. Shame. We meet the A57 from the east, just south of the city centre, and multiplex until we reach Mancunian Way, the A57 heading off as a short urban motorway, the A6 heading into the city centre via London Road/Piccadily, where it loses its number and vanishes. It would have gone straight down Piccadily/Market Street to meet Deansgate, and then across the River Irwell into Salford, and up Chapel Street, where the number reappears. Market Street has been pedestrianised for years, so the A6 has long ceased to be a through route.
In 2014, having taken early retirement from teaching photography, I embarked on a series of walks along the arterial roads of Manchester.
See also Bury New Road and Cheetham Hill Road and Rochdale Road and Oldham Road and Ashton New Road and Ashton Old Road and Hyde Road.
Manchester Arterial – A57
The A57 was nearly a coast to coast route. It passes through three major city centres (Liverpool, Manchester, and Sheffield – with elevated sections in each) and several smaller ones, multiplexes with the A6 and the A1, follows the banks of two canals and negotiates the remotest part of the Peak District. In one city it part of it is a tram route, whilst in another its former route is also a tram route. After all these adventures, it sadly gives up just 40 miles short of the east coast, Lincoln apparently proving too big an obstacle.
The A57 crosses the River Irwell at Regent Bridge before entering its moment of motorway glory as the A57(M) Mancunian Way skirting the south of Manchester’s city centre on an elevated section and crossing the A56 and A34. This includes a half-completed exit that goes the wrong way up Brook Street – a one way street. The original A57 ran further north through the city centre along Liverpool Road (now the A6143) and Whitworth Street – B6469 as far as the A6 London Road which marked the start of a multiplex.
At the end of Mancunian Way, we reach a TOTSO, straight on being the short unsigned A635(M) and thence the A635 – for Saddleworth Moor, Barnsley and Doncaster whilst the A57 turns south, briefly multiplexing with the A6, and then branching off along Hyde Road. This section of road was extensively cleared for the westward extension for the M67, and consequently has seen a lot of redevelopment.
In 2014, having taken early retirement from teaching photography, I embarked on a series of walks along the arterial roads of Manchester.
See also Bury New Road and Cheetham Hill Road and Rochdale Road and Oldham Road and Ashton New Road and Ashton Old Road.
Manchester Arterial – A635
The road now begins slightly further south than it used to. Instead of starting on Fairfield Street in Manchester city centre, it begins immediately as the Mancunian Way ends, which at this point is the unsigned A635(M). The motorway flows directly into our route. There’s a TOTSO right at a set of lights, and we pick up the old alignment, which now starts as the B6469.
We can see the new City of Manchester Stadium on the left, site of the 2002 Commonwealth Games and now home to Manchester City FC. The road switches between S2 and S4 as it passes through the rather run-down urban areas of Ardwick and Gorton. A short one-way system at a triangular-shaped junction with the A662 leads onto a wider stretch as we near the M60 junction. This area is set to see significant industrial growth, with whole swathes of land either side of the now D3 road cleared and ready for development.
In 2014, having taken early retirement from teaching photography, I embarked on a series of walks along the arterial roads of Manchester.
See also Bury New Road and Cheetham Hill Road and Rochdale Road and Oldham Road and Ashton New Road
Manchester Arterial – A662
Starting at traffic lights on the A665 the road heads northeastwards, initially with the Metrolink on the left and a factory building on the right. The road then bears right at traffic lights marking the first section of on-street running for the trams, which lasts until just before a bridge over the River Medlock, after which the road passes to the south of the Sportcity complex whilst the tram line runs through the middle.
The A6010 is crossed at traffic lights, after which we see the tram lines on the left once more. We go over the Ashton Canal, then the tram lines at grade before bearing to the right to pass Clayton Park before another section of on-street running for the Metrolink begins, which continues for some distance. Just after crossing the Manchester city limit there is a set of traffic lights, after which the road becomes D2 for a short distance to allow a tram stop – Edge Lane, to be located in the central reservation. The tram leaves the road to the right for the next stop – Cemetery Road, and the stop in Droylsden town centre is once again in the central reservation. In all three cases the street running recommences after the stop.
In 2014, having taken early retirement from teaching photography, I embarked on a series of walks along the arterial roads of Manchester.
See also Bury New Road and Cheetham Hill Road and Rochdale Road and Oldham Road.
Manchester Arterial – A664
The obvious place for the A664 to start is on the A665 Manchester & Salford Inner Relief Route, which at this point is actually two parallel one-way streets. However, many maps show the road continuing a short distance into the city centre to end at traffic lights by the Shudehill Interchange – this is presumably for historic reasons: the road originally continued along the High Street to its terminus on the A6 Market Street.
The road heads northeastwards through the suburbs, the street name Rochdale Road, already emphasising its destination. Initially dual, the road narrows just before crossing the bridge over the railway line east of Victoria station. It continues through Collyhurst and widens again just before crossing the A6010 Intermediate Ring Road, which here is made up of two parallel one-way streets, requiring two separate sets of traffic lights to cross.
Now non-primary – but still dual for a short distance more, the road runs in a more northerly direction through Blackley, where it becomes wooded for a short distance as it passes the Boggart Hole Clough park. Slightly further on the road has been straightened, after which it bears right to widen considerably and cross the A6104 at traffic lights just before M60 J20, which only has west-facing sliproads. The road narrows again on the far side of the motorway and leaves Manchester for Rochdale at the same point.
In 2014, having taken early retirement from teaching photography, I embarked on a series of walks along the arterial roads of Manchester.
See also Bury New Road and Cheetham Hill Road.
Manchester Arterial – A 665
Cheetham Hill Road is part of the designated A665. Cheetham Hill Road starts at the junction of the A6042 Corporation Street and the A665 Miller Street. It crosses the culverted River Irk to the east of Victoria Station. At its junction with New Bridge Street, it turns north-northeast and is straight for 1 km, to the A6010 Queen’s Road . This stretch was called York Street until about 1900. Cheetham Hill Road leads from here to the community of Cheetham Hill, where at Bourget Street and Crescent Road – formerly Sandy Lane, Cheetham Hill Road becomes Bury Old Road.
In 2014, having taken early retirement from teaching photography, I embarked on a series of walks along the arterial roads of Manchester.
See also Bury New Road.
Manchester Arterial – A56
First crossing the M60 Manchester Outer Ring Road at Junction 7 into Stretford.
The A56 takes the name of Chester Road and continues north-eastwards through Stretford and Hulme into Manchester city centre, where it takes on the name Deansgate, one of Manchester’s main shopping streets and thoroughfares. At the end of Deansgate, the A56 takes on the name of Victoria Street as it passes Manchester Victoria railway station. Since 2012, most of Victoria Street has been pedestrianised with planters, but the road markings still remain underneath.
In 2014, having taken early retirement from teaching photography, I embarked on a series of walks along the arterial roads of Manchester.
Westfield Estate – Sheffield
I was asked to give a talk for Photo North in response to Sean Madner’s photographs.
Speaking on behalf of the Sheffield Modernists.
On the day, I was eager to visit the Westfield Estate for the first time.
Westfield Estate Mosborough, formerly Waterthorpe Farm Estate, a rural township which was subsumed by Sheffield’s expanding housing schemes.
Mosborough, a vastly expanding village, eight miles North East of Chesterfield and six miles South East of Sheffield.
Waterthorpe Housing Estate near Beighton named after Waterthorpe – formerly Walterthorpe Farm.
Path which goes behind houses on Short Brook Close 1974
The Waterthorpe and Westfield housing estates were built from mid-1970s and were added to over a number of years. Eventually linking with both the old council estate of Beighton and the new estate of Halfway, the estates house a condensed significant number of almost wholly local authority owned properties following the phasing down and demolition of the original estates around Parson Cross and Shiregreen in the north of the city.
Eastcroft Glen 1986
May Tree Lane
Archive photographs – Picture Sheffield
So I jumped the tram from Sheffield Station to Halfway alighting at Waterthorpe.
A long rambling ride, rolling in and out of rolling hills.
I headed over the footbridge and into the heart of the estate.
Pomona Island
June 2015 the last post of the lost last posts of Pomona.
April 2020 a history and appraisal of Pomona Gardens – the undergrowth having recently having had a trim.
What were once opulent Pleasure Gardens now await the Midas touch of Peek Holdings.
What knows what fates awaits you?
Long-awaited plans to redevelop the 26-acre swathe of land will not come forward until Peel L&P and Trafford Council reach an accord on the level of affordable housing to be provided on a separate project.
In 2021, Peel lodged plans for a 162-apartment build-to-rent scheme on part of Pomona Island.
The project featured no on-site affordable housing provision – although Peel did offer a ‘significant financial contribution’ towards off-site affordable housing – and Trafford Council subsequently recommended the development be refused.
This promoted Peel to withdraw the £35m proposals before they were discussed at committee.
Place Northwest 2022
The 2023 iteration of the project, part of the developer’s Manchester Waters masterplan, also features no on-site affordable homes.
However, as part of the proposals, Peel will be making a contribution equivalent to 20% affordable housing within Trafford, the developer said. The earlier iteration proposed 5%.
Place Northwest 2023
The proposed nature reserve seem like a distant dream
Despite suggestions that Pomona could become the Eden Project of the north, 3,000 homes are planned for the site by owners Peel L&P and the first development, Pomona Wharf, is already complete.
This green space could have been a globally significant urban park, and a powerful statement of Manchester’s commitment to fighting climate change and protecting green spaces.
Unfortunately, the city chose more apartments and financial growth over the natural world and not for the first time – Luke Blazejewski.
So once again we venture down the rabbit hole of a hole in the fence by Cornbrook.
Sheffield Modernists
The outline of a presentation for Photonorth – November 16th 2023.
I was asked to talk about the photographs which Sean Madner had selected for exhibition on behalf of the Sheffield Modernists.
Illustrating a wide range of building types in and around Sheffield sheltering beneath the broad umbrella of Modernism.
By way of context the photographs are all Topographic in nature – in which a landscape subject is photographed, devoid of people, framed orthogonally and lacking artifice or effect.
Practiced most famously by the 1970s New Topographics photographers, including Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Nicholas Nixon, and Bernd and Hilla Becher.
Bernd and Hilla’s photographs lead us to:
1 Potter Hill Water Tower
The British Water Tower Appreciation Society
2 Geography Building 1970 Sir William Whitfield
Alterations made 2022
3 Moore Street Substation 1968 Jefferson Sheard
Owen Hatherley describes it as:
A shocking paroxysm of a building, an explosion in reinforced concrete, a bunker built with an aesthete’s attention to detail, a building which is genuinely Brutalist in both senses of the term.
4 Horse and Lion Pub – Bass Charringtons
Prime example of a so-called Estate Pub.
With a hyper parabolic roof a doubly-curved surface that resembles the shape of a saddle, that is, it has a convex form along one axis, and a concave form on along the other.
Featured in the video for the Arctic Monkeys’ 2006 number one hit – When the Sun Goes Down at 1.21.
5 Park Hill – 1957 and 1961 Jack Lynn and Ivor Smith under the supervision of JL Womersley,
Grace Owen Nursery – with two Wicksteed climbing frames
The Play Ground should not be put in a corner behind railings, but in a conspicuous and beautiful part of a Park, free to all, where people can enjoy the play and charming scenery at the same time; where mothers can sit, while they are looking on and caring for their children.
Charles Wicksteed
6 Gleadless Estate 1963 Lewis Wormersley City Architect
The Sheffield Blitz in December 1940 killed almost 700 and damaged some 82,000 homes, over half the city’s housing stock. As the city looked to rebuilding, its 1952 Development Plan estimated the need to replace 20,000 unfit homes and build a further 15,000 to cater for the natural increase of population.
Supreme, but often overlooked, achievement … is the Gleadless Valley Estate which combined urban housing types and the natural landscape so effectively that it still looks stunning, especially on a bright winter’s day.
7 Hallam Tower Hotel 1965 Nelson Foley of Trust House Architectural Department
It opened officially on 24th March 1965 and was the first luxury hotel to be built in the north of England since the Second World War. The exterior was designed to complement Sheffield’s post-war modernist developments; the interior by Colefax and Fowler of Mayfair offered warm, gay colours to contrast with the black and grey tones of the city.
The plant started its first full year of production in 1929
The plant was located at Hope, because it is at the edge of where carboniferous limestone of the Monsal Dale Group, meets Edale Shale, the two main components of finished cement.
Since 1951, when the Peak District National Park was created, most of the outbound traffic from the plant has been exported by rail.
As seen in the Channel 4 TV ident.
The same location used in Shelagh Delaney’s A taste of Honey.
9 Droppingwell Footbridge – West Riding County Architect Colonel Stuart Maynard
Colleagues in the team included Bill Varley, Ron Bridle, Sri Sriskandan and FA Joe Sims. The team was responsible for the introduction of a great deal of new computing technology into bridge design, as well as for some of the most imaginative bridge engineering going on anywhere in the country. Their design efforts were supported by close involvement in research and testing work, for example, on half-joints and concrete hinges. All the above named engineers went on to considerable seniority, some in the Department of Transport, and Sims and Bridle in particular have published various papers and contributed to books on the history of Britain’s motorway development.
10 Beeversleigh Rotherham 1968-71 Main contractors J Finnegan
It’s thirteen storeys high – housing forty eight dwellings.
11 Park House School 1964 Lyons Israel Ellis Gray
Listed in 2017 – then demolished.
12 Magistrates Court 1978 B Warren City Architect
Built using a structure developed by EM Wincher in Pittsburgh 1930.
14 Westfield Estate Mosborough
Formerly Waterthorpe Farm Estate a rural township which was subsumed by Sheffield’s expanding housing schemes.
Concrete Chalets Again – Scarborough
Well here we are again.
The wind, sea, rain and sand continues to erode the beleaguered beach huts.
Tynemouth Outdoor Pool – Again
Here we are again and the local community are hard at work funding the pool’s transformation.
We’re the Friends of Tynemouth Outdoor Pool and we’re aiming to transform the incredible eyesore that sits at the end of one of the country’s favourite beaches into a brand new outdoor pool that’s modern, safe and, most importantly, heated.
Here’s a record of my previous visit.
Refurbishment work is yet to begin, sea, sun, sand and wind can be unkind to concrete.
Let’s hope that the glory days return sooner rather than later.
May 1969
July 1949
Archive images: Memory Lane
At the Southern end of Tynemouth Longsands beach, on the North East coast, lies the decaying remains of Tynemouth Outdoor Swimming Pool. A concrete, rectangular, salt water tidal pool, built in the 1920s. Popular with locals and holiday makers alike for over 50 years. It began to lose favour in the late 70s with the introduction of cheap package holidays abroad, just as other British coastal holiday destinations lost out.
The pool fell into disrepair, and in the mid 90s the Local Authority demolished the ancillary buildings and bulldozed the rubble into the pool, at a cost of £200,000, before filling with concrete and imported boulders to form an artificial ‘rock pool’.
The anticipated marine life they introduced never flourished and the pool remains an eyesore to this day.
Friends of Tynemouth Pool
Spillers Mill Car Park
Tyne Mill is one of a trio of mills designed by Oscar Faber for Spillers Ltd – the others are in Cardiff and Avonmouth and led to subsequent commissions from the company. Spillers began with a single mill in Bridgwater in around 1833, and during the 20th centruy had mills all over Britain.
Spillers operations were flour milling and manufacturing animal feeds, and they came to Newcastle in 1896. Grinding grain to flour produces both heat and fine dust a combination guaranteed to be a fire hazard. The fire retardant properties of reinforced concrete, and its relative cost effectiveness, made it a popular choice for mills and other industrial buildings.
Construction took place during the winter and a warming plant heated the concrete constituents before and after mixing, to control the setting time which governs how soon the slip-form shuttering can be moved to the next lift. The concrete was usually kept at 15.6 deg C, though this could be varied to speed or delay setting times.
The mill building has the actual mill above a warehouse area. Its footprint is 88.4m by 27.4m with 12 storeys and a maximum height of 51.2m. It has reinforced concrete columns and beams, but timber floors of 100mm thick Columbian pine with a 25mm thick maple strip finish. The walls are of 280mm thick brickwork with flashing on each floor to drain the cavity.
When completed, Spillers Tyne Mill was the largest flour mill in Europe and apparently the tallest milling building in the world. It could process 254,000 tonnes of grain annually, brought to the mill by ship via Spillers Quay or by rail on the track extension along Quayside.
A goods line down to the Newcastle quayside from Manors Station was agreed in 1845, but not authorized until 28th June 1863 and opened on 1st June 1870.
The Quayside Branch Line closed on 16 June 1969. The railway was in use for ninety-nine years and its eventual demise reflects the changes in the Quayside and Ouseburn themselves from shipping and industrial use to one now of housing and leisure facilities. The northern portal of tunnel 2 was removed when the Metro system was constructed in the late 1970s. The cutting above Lime Street was filled in in 1977 and the tunnel at the quayside bricked up and landscaped over in the 1990s. Only the Red Barns tunnel remains as a metro overrun facility.
Demolition began in June 2011 and was completed by January 2012.
All that remains is a car park:
24/7, completely free and always spaces! A hidden parking gem of Newcastle! 10 minute walk to Millennium Bridge. Security is almost non-existent but busy enough that trouble should be deterred.
However:
A popular Newcastle car park will be staying locked up overnight in an effort to crack down on boy racers. Council bosses have confirmed plans to permanently close the Spillers car park in Ouseburn at 10pm each night after it was plagued with – significant anti-social behaviour.
The future of the car park is uncertain, with major redevelopment plans having emerged for the area.
While planning permission has expired for the controversial Whey Aye Wheel project, which would have seen Europe’s biggest observation wheel built at Spillers Wharf, there remain proposals to build housing on the riverside plot.
However as of September 2023 a car park is a car park – a car park with embedded remnants of the railway yard, interspersed with rapidly emergent plant life, and crumbling concrete obstacles.
Along with a discarded packet of Wotsits.
The ingredients list of Wotsits Cheese reveals that cheese and dairy-derived components play a significant role in creating the mouthwatering flavor. The primary ingredients include corn and rapeseed oil, which form the base of the crunchy corn puffs. However, it is the cheese flavoring that truly brings the cheesy goodness to Wotsits cheese.
Penrhyn Again
Another year on, another day in Penrhyn Bay – fifth time around.
I have to admit that I’m fascinated by the manicured homes of this long sweep of road reaching from the base of the Little Orme.
It was fascination, I know
And it might have ended right then, at the start
Just a passing glance, just a brief romance
And I might have gone on my way, empty hearted
Once a scattered agglomeration of inter-war houses in the shadow of the limestone quarry.
On each visit one apprehends the ever so slowly evolving additions, carefully considered property improvements, another new car in the same old town.
Keeping it quietly personal.
Chisworth Works
Chisworth Works Coombes Lane Holehouse Charlesworth and Chisworth SK13 5DQ
Built at the end of the 18th or in the early 19th centuries; Chisworth Works was as a cotton band manufactory. During these times, the site was called Higher Mill.
It was referred to as Higher Mill, as there was a lower works, Mouse Mill in Holehouse, owned by the Booth family.
Keiner & Co., at Charlesworth, employ over 100 people and are engaged principally in the production of synthetic and chrome tanning extracts.
Glossop Official Handbook 1948
It has been a longstanding, low-lying object of interest to those intrepid Urban Explorers.
A planning application of 2009 was submitted for redevelopment of the terraced cottages.
Proposed alterations and change of use to form ten two bedroom cottages from existing five dwellings and vacant office accommodation.
This was the state of play in April 2021 – the interior photographs were taken through an open aperture.
Lead Chromate can affect you when inhaled or swallowed. Contact can irritate and burn the skin and eyes. Prolonged skin contact may cause blisters and deep ulcers.
Inhaling Lead Chromate can irritate the nose, throat and lungs.Exposure can cause headache, irritability, and muscle and joint pain. Repeated exposure can cause Lead poisoning with metallic taste, colic and muscle cramps.
Inhaling Lead Chromate can cause a sore and/or a hole in the septum.
Lead Chromate may cause a skin allergy.
Lead Chromate may damage the nervous system. Exposure may cause kidney and brain damage, and anemia.
The building was subsequently owned by EP Bray.
Wherever the choice has had to be made between the man of reason and the madman, the world has unhesitatingly followed the madman.
Aldous Huxley – Crome Yellow
Chrome yellow is a derivative of Lead Chromate.
For over two hundred years the site has been a place of toil, dangerous toil taking its toll.
The valleys which inevitably fed the Mersey, were home to the origins of the Industrial Revolution – people and water powered.
This is a toxic landscape, nestled in the heart of ancient post-glacial earth movements:
Geomorphological investigations of two landslide areas on the Cown Edge escarpment showed that slope failure was primarily the result of local stratigraphic and lithological conditions and not of past climatic vicissitudes or changes in the form of the relief. Failure on each occasion took place by shearing along the same line of weakness: shales either within a calcareous shale band or in close proximity to it became decomposed and unable to bear the weight of the slope forming material above it. Each displacement resulted in a bank slip failure and the formation of a block glide landslide. The morphology indicates that slip movements has occurred several times and the periods when these took place have been determined using palynological methods. These results indicate that the Cown Edge landslides date from a post-glacial period.
As of August 2023 the terraces remain un-rehabilitated.
The forecourt of the factory is currently strewn with the detritus of an ever more wasteful world.
Prestatyn to Colwyn Bay
15.1 miles of National Cycle Route 5 – almost constantly, closely cuddling the coast.
Prestatyn
There is evidence that the current town location has been occupied since prehistoric times. Prehistoric tools found in the caves of Graig Fawr, in the nearby village of Meliden, have revealed the existence of early human habitation in the area.
“Sunny Prestatyn” became famous for its beach, clean seas and promenade entertainers, and visiting for a bathe was considered very healthy by city-dwelling Victorians.
The town is at the northern end of the Offa’s Dyke Path, although not on Offa’s Dyke itself.
The holiday camp in Prestatyn was built by the London Midland and Scottish Railway Co. in 1939. The main buildings were in classic 1930s style, featuring rounded building ends, steel framed windows and porthole windows. Chalets showed an early form of sectionalised building method.
Requisitioned as a military camp until after the Second World War, it reopened as a holiday camp in the early 1950s. The site was demolished and cleared between February and March 2001.
The camp was sold in 1975 and taken over by Pontins, but it closed in 1985.
After that, it was used by the police for riot control training.
In 1973 the camp took a starring role in the comedy movie Holiday on the Buses.
The refurbished Pontin’s now trades as Prestatyn Sands.
Prestatyn offers the opportunity to engage in an impromptu game of Crazy Golf – though the facility was closed on the morning of my visit.
The crazy golf was fantastic the kids didn’t want to leave plus the lady was so helpful plus the price were very reasonable – would highly recommended.
The promenade is dominated by a tight knit group of modern leisure facilities.
An expansive car park fronts directly onto the seafront.
There have been serious reinforcements made to the seawalls – ensuring that the passing cyclist will not be washed away, by the crashing waves of the incoming tide.
The reinforcement work demands that we temporarily detour onto the Rhyl Coast Road, where we encounter Pirate Island Adventure Golf.
Uncover hidden treasure on the North Welsh Coast at Pirate Island Adventure Golf at Lyons Robin Hood Holiday Park.
Make friends with the great white shark, octopus, and the resident pirates who guard the Island.
This 18-hole course is a fun and crazy challenge for all the family, with stunning views of Rhyl seafront to boot. Plus, it’s located just a stone’s throw away from Sherwoods Sports Bar where refreshments are served.
Rhyl
Rhyl Sands: David Cox 1854
The Welsh orthography has proved difficult for English writers to transliterate as Rhyl’s opening voiceless alveolar trill is uncommon in the English language.
I nipped into town for a tub from Sidoli’s – £1.83 well spent.
The promenade is home to a series of entertainments including the Rhyl Pavilion Theatre
The theatre, owned and operated by Denbighshire Council, has also been re-clad as part of the project, designed by architects Space & Place.
It forms part of a wider redevelopment of Rhyl’s seafront, which includes the demolition of the Sun Centre and the construction of a £15m water park.
There is a also a becalmed Post Modernist Piazza – named Rhyl Events Arena.
The playful nursery geometry of the SeaQuarium.
The functionalist Vue Cinema.
Tickets were £5.99 for a standard seat, the staff said not to bother upgrading as the premium seats were rubbish, sound was okay and picture quality was okay.
Food price was expensive so it maybe cheap to get in, but £16.99 for a large popcorn and drink ups the price, would go again if in the area.
The slightly off-brown behemoth SC2 designed by architect Space & Place.
The former Sun Centre having been demolished.
The outdoor play area has a distinctive Ettore Sottsass theme.
Crossing the harbour by way of the brand new Pont y Ddraig Bridge opened in October 2013.
The bridge was designed by Gifford – now part of Ramboll and built by Dawnus, fabrication of the two bascule decks was by AM Structures.
Much of the coast is fringed with chalets and static caravans.
Kinmel Bay
Home to The Frothy Coffee.
There aren’t enough food, service, value or atmosphere ratings for The Frothy Coffee, yet – be one of the first to write a review!
Kinmel Bay beach is popular with tourists and the local population. In addition to various small shops and takeaway outlets, there is also an Asda superstore that opened in 1981, which includes a large petrol filling station.
The concrete shore is softened by grasses and wild flowers – with views of the mountains beyond.
Here we are in Towyn
The town made national headlines in 1990 when a combination of gale-force winds, a high tide and rough seas caused Towyn’s flood defences to be breached at about 11.00am on 26 February. Four square miles of land was flooded, affecting 2,800 properties and causing areas of the resort to be evacuated. Further flooding occurred later the same week, on 1 March, shortly after the site of the disaster was visited by Prince Charles and Princess Diana.
Scientific experts also believe that the silt left behind from the flooding had left the town with a higher concentration of radioactivity, over ten times the governmental safety limits, most likely originating from the nuclear processing plant at Sellafield which had been dispersed into the Irish Sea over many years since its construction.
Excitements galore, await at the well maintained funfair.
Motor cars to the fore, as the intrepid sea-anglers prepare for a day of sea-angling.
Abergele where Family Fun can be found in the form of Kiddies Karts.
In 2020/21 Abergele hosted the 20th and 21st editions of I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! at Gwrych Castle, due to the Covid pandemic restrictions in Australia.
I failed to avail myself with a chilly treat courtesy of Danny’s Whippy, having already had my 99 tub, from Sidoli’s in Rhyl.
Local brewery Purple Moose’s delivery van driver takes a timely break, whilst fellow cyclists stop for a cig and a chat.
Rugged rocks, sadly lacking ragged rascals, as the Little Orme comes into view.
Cast concrete defences, and Raynes Quarry jetty at Llandulas.
The quarry was originally known as Llysfaen Limeworks, being close to Llysfaen railway station. James Trevelyan Raynes of Rock Ferry, Birkenhead, took over the quarry in the 1870s, adding large new limekilns. Lime from the quarry was shipped to various alkali works. Alkali was used for soap, textiles and many other goods.
Quarrying in this area has also produced porcelain-like limestone for high quality architectural uses. St Margaret’s Church – also known as the Marble Church in Bodelwyddan, was built with limestone from Llanddulas.
In November 2011 one of the freighters, MV Swanland, sank in stormy weather on the Irish Sea after collecting 3,000 tons of stone from Raynes jetty bound for the Isle of Wight.
Two crewmen were rescued but five, all Russian, were lost.
Almost the end of the line here in Old Colwyn – where there are the last of a series of shelters.
Formerly lining the prom all the way to Rhos on Sea
Cutting under the A55 Expressway to Colwyn Bay.
During World War II the Colwyn Bay Hotel, Marine Road – now demolished, was the headquarters of the Ministry of Food. This also housed the Cocoa & Chocolate division and was the communications hub for the ministry, they continued to use the hotel until 1953.
Just in time for the 4.00 opening of Black Cloak Brewery & Taproom.
A fine and fitting end to a sunny day cycling along the North Wales Coastal Cycle Route.
Time for the train home to Stockport – but you can bet I’ll be back.
Modern Mooch 