Underground Warriors (Manchester): 9 Dec 2013

Sally,s Hole (park bridge)

Sally,s hole was put in along side devils hole just after the great floods in 13th July 1872, The flood washed down sheep washers brook down through snipe clough and chew valley gushed through devils hole (before sally hole) and did serious damage to the two cotton mills knocking down outbuildings and flooding the cellars ,so it was decided to put in sally,s hole built of brick and cast iron pipe running underground along side devils hole to appear further down river were water would safety enter it ensuring if any great floods happened again the excess water would be carried away from any buildings ,Legend has it "a girl named Sally" a niece of the mill owner was murdered in the tunnel hence the name "Sally,s hole".

The entrance still open- video at the bottom

Just bend down and enter

Just as you enter it has about 15 foot corrugated

pipe changing to brick

iron ore water was flowing

A root trying to get a drink

Note the curves

sinister?

section of cast iron pipe

Cast iron pipe made in the iron works

The now bricked up end

A poem we found on internet about sally,s hole

Click on video link, video by Johnny who
helps out sometime (copyright Johnny) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNhAKR6w09Q&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=nairbnotlih

Welcome to Devils hole

Devils hole is a name given to this tunnel by the locals, for years the legend has it that two boys in a canoe rowed down there and was never seen again , upon entering the tunnel (as kids) it was dark and damp and about 30 feet in there was a sudden drop of about 12 foot and looking down all you could see was old prams old bikes a bit of a car and a canoe broken in half !!.realistically this was a tunnel to carry the old sheep washes brook underground and under the mills and into the river now used as a sewer overflow coming from chew valley.Them who dare wins We have now entered this tunnel using various access points the original drop has gone but there is another reached via the river never seen before the tunnel is in good condition with alterations evident in various parts we have found no evidence of a water wheel which has been said powered the mills near the river we now have other ideas were this might be.This tunnel is still to be investigated further.

more history... http://www.tameside.gov.uk/parkbridge

The start (river end)

just before we entered

Walking towards water fall

pictures at the bottom looking up

Now we enter from the other end of devils hole
Secret entrance, The only way in down a ladder

Bottom of ladder in devils

walking towards the waterfall

The drop (water fall) from above

walking towards the waterfall

Roof above water fall (floor boards ?)

Old drains dropping into devils hole

In the background what you see is the end of cows hole

we will explore this soon and report

Here is a video that i took,two years planning
to get to walk through but we did :-)

A journey many a kid took without lights just held onto each other

Victoria Arches (cathedral steps)

The Victoria Arches are a series of bricked-up arches built in an embankment of the River Irwell in Manchester. They served as business premises , landing stages for Steam packet riverboats and as Second World War air-raid shelters . They were accessed from wooden staircases that descended from Victoria Street.[1] Regular flooding resulted in the closure of the steam-packet services in the early 20th century, and the arches were later used for general storage. Following the outbreak of the Second World War they were converted into air raid shelters. They are now bricked up and inaccessible, the staircases having been removed in the latter part of the 20th century.

More history ..http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Arches