29th August 2019: Mystery Waterway, Adjacent Century Mill, Between George Street and Medlock Close

Location of mystery water feature, now dried up.

This unremarkable photograph might seem like just another rubbish strewn area which is slowly being reclaimed by nature, but it marks, however, the line of one of Farnworth's most mysterious waterways. It is situated in an overgrown area between the side of Century Mill on George Street and the backs of houses on Medlock Close. At present, the water seems to have dried up or at least gone underground. The only tell tale sign of its former existence being wet, boggy ground.

I am at a loss to explain this feature naturally. If one compares several old OS plans, no stream or tributary has ever been recorded at this location, no culverts are marked, nor does it line up with a stream any distance away. So the question remains, what could it be? I have a theory, but at present it is only a tentative one. I'd be certainly interested in hearing what others think or whether they have other possible explanations. 

The Theory

If one looks in the immediate vicinity of the mystery waterway, one notices two distinct features. First, the large reservoir or lodge at the top of St. Germain Street and second, the old mine shaft which is situated in the back garden of a house on Ramsay Avenue. Our feature lies between the two in a direct line. Many people think that the reservoir is a lodge belonging to Century Mill but as the OS 1 inch outline 1885-1900 sheet below demonstrates it pre-dates the building of the mill in 1902 by many years. What could the reservoir have been used for originally? I have been told by a correspondent that it was originally built as a "balancing reservoir" to "top up" the Duke of Bridgewater's underground canals linking all the pits between Worsley and the top of Plodder Lane allowing coal to be easily taken out of them and eventually transported to Manchester. My informant tells me that his grandfather was one of the last of the "canal men" whose job it was to "top up" the upper navigable canal level nearly 300 feet below ground. This was done by means of a hand operated sluice at the top end of the reservoir. If this theory is correct, then the water that was destined to go beneath ground had only a short distance to travel between the reservoir and the old shaft marked on the OS plans. Whether it was then piped down the shaft I am not sure.

All this, of course, is pure speculation and conjecture. If anyone has any comments or other plausible theories as to the identification of this mysterious water feature, I would love to hear them. On the plans below, the blue marker shows the old shaft in relation to the water feature and the reservoir.

Reservoir situated between St. Germain Street and Century Mill, George Street

OS 25 inch 1892-1914

LiDAR DTM 1m

OS Opendata

ESRI World Topo

ESRI World Topo

OS One Inch Outline 1885-1900

Plan of Duke of Bridgewater's Underground Canal System

Canal men on a routine inspection of underground canals

Inspections came to an end in the late 1960's. Most of the northerly part of the system, beyond the Inclined Plane at Ashton Field is presumed to be flooded. However, as can be seen in these two photographs, the brickwork at the time of these inspections were in remarkably good condition.