The Hidden History of Manchester's Irk Valley
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.ย. 2024
- In this video we shall be exploring the hidden history of Manchester's Irk valley. We go on an urban exploring adventure, Urbex and look at the History along the Valley in Collyhurst. This Manchester History video explores the remnants of an old factory, we look at old photo's of Manchester and look at old maps to guide us on our historical adventure. looking at the remnants of the Industrial revolution. Angel Meadow, Vauxhall Gardens are a few of the 5 places we investigate. We can see an archeological dig before our very eyes and see the remnants of old slum houses. These are the slum houses that Marx and Engels talked about in their study of the condition of the working classes. #manchester #history #angelmeadow #urbanexploring
I really should start Ironing my T shirts 😀
This video is TV quality
Thank you Trev 👍
Totally agree. Production on this and other is top notch.
Scott Rowland Thanks very Much Scott
Martin Zero 😂
Binge watching your older videos once again. In the 1891 census the Ebenezer works is listed as a tarpaulin factory, owned by John Blackwell and company. Great video as usual.
Martin, you are a great and gritty historian, bringing old Manchester back to life. Another great video.
Thank you Julie
Absolutely awe inspiring! Your creations just blow me away. A lot of people claim to "love" their cities, but very very few have such an intimate relationship with them. I could watch your work for days. Thank you so much for these!
Thanks very much John
I was born in Collyhurst in the fifties...200 yards from the bank of the river irk....it was called the "rainbow river" back then, because the McBride dyeworks, up stream in Middleton, used to dump their dye stuffs, directly into the river...so one day the river was purple, next day it was yellow, then red, then blue, and so on,...no lifeform, could live in the irk, at that time...
I am a Londoner so not local but your videos are great. Love British history.
That, was a piece of art. Just blown away by it. Amazing. 😱
Thanks so Much Geraldine. Art...... thats very kind.....I still regard myself as a goon with a camera 😆
Love rewatching some of these,and it just heightens my respect for the hard lives these people led. Never do I see this as romanticizing poverty of this scale,but as we tour a posh manor I simultaneously see these people in my head.
I drive trams over this area everyday and so I was utterly engrossed. Brilliant research as usual too.
Thanks very much. Thats cool I love that bit of the Viaduct where the two Lines join, one viaduct joins the other 👍👍
Well this vid is now 2 1/2 years old and surely construction of those apartments across from Angel Meadow is complete and the ruins of those slums are gone....the historian in me is crying out with every fiber at the injustice! That's the heart of Manchester's industrial revolution history right there and ought to be preserved.
I've watched a lot of your videos.....next time I'm in the UK we'll be exploring the north and what wouldn't I give to have a guide like you to show me the most fascinating ruins of old Manchester!
Thanks once Martin for an inspiring journey into Manchester's history, with your usual infectious enthusiasm.
Thank you very Much Bob, much appreciate your support
Martin you should consider doing walking tours around Manchester.
I and l'm sure others would pay you, because when you discribe the past (we ) well l do !! wish l was their to experience it. 👍
Agreed.
Great video's. Even for someone like myself who does not know the area these are a fascinating insight into our industrial heritage, even my wife finds them interesting. Thanks a lot and please continue the good work.
Thanks Martin another excellent insight to Manchester's past.
Thanks very much Steve 👍
Great video Martin, I could of sat and watched easy an hour of that.
History under your nose that I never thought could be still seen, before it’s gone for good..
Thank you very much Clay. Yes There is more. I keep thinking of wrapping it up with a B side video 😀
Martin Zero
I like the sound of that Martin, a part 2 video..
Excellent editing work too. I also like your own production music when you use them over a montage..
Thanks Clay. That wasn't music I made. I wish I could make music like that.
Very moving film- well edited and presented. Well done Martin.
Thank you 👌😀
Hi from Newfoundland. Great video! Love the old industrial stuff.
Hello and thank you. Yeah love the remnants of a bygone age 👍
One of your best to date pal.
Cheers Paul 😀
Really enjoyed this. Thanks, Martin. I have vivid recollections of walking to my infants school, St Chads, with my mum in late 1950s and walking by the Irk. The water ran either dark blue or muddy yellow, depending on what the dye works was dyeing that day. And I can still remember the stink from the dye in the water. Amazing to think the area was once one of great rural beauty. Denise, author of 'The Cheetham Hill Murder - A Convenient Killing?'
Just watched this vid for a second time all i can say brilliant far better than any tv, Martin your a star.
Martin, thank you for this series. This is seriously some of the best content on here. Your presentation and editing is on point, and following your deep dive into Manchester's past is like a vicarious time machine trip. Great stuff!
Thanks very much, yes I loved doing this. I know the area and am fascinated with it
I love watching your work Martin
Martin. Great video. I'm a Manchester lad but left M/C in 1968 for parts forsign. Those are just the sort of places I loved to explore when I was a lad in the '60s. We lived just a few metres from the Bridgewater canal. Of course the water quality so much worse. The industrial revolution wasn't quite dead then! Thanks- really great to watch - keep up the good work. Love the music - sets the scene.
Hello thanks very much. Yep I sometimes do feel like a kid again exploring those places 👍😃
Fantastic production.
Love it!
Absolutely brilliant very well paced informative great soundtrack and actually interesting unlike a lot of the tripe I've seen on here. Nice one Martin thoroughly enjoyed that m8.
To be honest Id love to see you do something to do with Manchester's musical history I think you'd be able to pull off something special for that. The people the places from Salford lads club to the hacienda Is it something you've ever considered or are considering?
Hi thanks very much. Yes I was going to do something on that. Still might do it.
Quality I look forward to that pal!
I grew up near there & was often told of the hard men & Scuttler gangs in the area in years gone by some used to use St.Michaels flags as a venue to fight barefist to settle disputes. My make family grew up in Silk St.& Malham Crescent so I have a good bit of local knowledge on it Great to see it Martin thanks a million !👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Thank you Seanna its an amazing place full of history 👌
That outpour below Rochdale Rd is the overflow from the main Sewer opposite Collyhurst St Martin that comes down from Blackley, our Foreman John Moores took me down as an apprentice to inspect the cracks in the overflow that were caused by Bradford Pit subsidence, our depot used to be on Knowsley St Cheetham & I used to walk home from there to Ashton New Rd Bradford/Eastlands every day as I was only on £3.50 a week & I gave my parents £3.00, I used to walk down Roger St which was then open to its full width, floods damaged it & it was decided to block one side off around 1970 so that heavy traffic could not use it untill it was repaired but this never happened, the mill at the side of Vauxhall St had 3 letters on the front, I think it was C P A as I used to get mixed up with The P M A on the other side of Collyhurst Rd, on top of the hill on the other side that you mentioned that used to be Vauxhal Gardens was a Company that Recycled oil Drums called Wilcox. all the oil drums used to be stacked high on the top, you have brought back lots of memories again Martin, keep up your roaming videos. Terry.
Terry thats brilliant thank you. Fascinating about the crack in the pipe caused by Bradford Colliery and Roger Street. Thanks so much for the insight Terry 👍
CPA, later Cepea, or Calico Printers Association is, in my opinion, the probable meaning of those initials. In the mid-70s l worked at Tootal Dress Fabrics on Poland Street in Ancoats. If my memory serves me well, the company was known as Tootal - CPA for a while.
@@nomdeplume798 Thank you for your reply.
As always just amazing, your way of pointing out the old location with the new photos is very impressive, your enthusiasm for Manchester and Salford history is catching, you explain everything in such a good way, thanks MZ
Fab! Thank you. Even far away in Ottawa I am enjoying your work and how special Manchester is to us.
Ottawa !! Fantastic !!! thank you very Much Paul 👍
Another brilliant historical journey, thanks Martin.
Thanks very much Richard 👍
My Nana & Grandad lived in Angel Meadow when they came over from Co.Galway,she told us a drunk lady had a Rat suckling off her breast while passed out with a baby in her arms!My Nana said luckily didn't stay too long,well done again Martin once again !
Thanks Seanna. I think that image will stay with me a while 😱😟
Oh give over! She was having you on ! My dad used to love the tall tales Irish friends used to tell him about the old days . So much more imaginative than the English. One Irish lad told him about the rats in his digs that were so massive he had to wrestle with them to get them off the bed. And one was so vicious it actually killed him and i know it was true, said my dad, cos he told me himself. Martin is talking here about Angel Meadow in the mid 19th century not the mid 20th century.
My goodness. How I wish I could unread your comment. 😞😨😖😭😟😱😵😩
Very well done again. It seems as if all the major UK cities simply abandoned the industrial areas rather than redevelop them when the industry ceased. It's only now developers are paying attention. I know you were unsure when you got your new camera setup, but the intro here was on a new level. Its upped the game. :-)
Thanks very much, I like a nice intro 😆 Yes we both have a fascination for those remnants of the past that find themselves in the future
Just stumbled on your videos Martin Love em as an ex Brickie I love to see the Workmanship in these old buildings. What does stick with me is how little we are shown of the hardships that our forefathers were subjected too, our politically correct society would rather speak of the Slave Trade than inform us that living in these times in Britain as poor people was Hell on Earth. A few years ago I went to Pilkingtons World Of Glass in St Helens, and the lady who showed us around explained that at that time St Helens was the most polluted place on Earth, where the workers would drink beer at work, rather than drink the polluted water. Keep the vids coming.
Thank you Joseph
Martin your videos are awe inspiring, thank you for creating them...
Martin. Love your work and im from Liverpool.
Thanks Peace and love to Liverpool 😃👍
Watching this 2 parter again for the 3rd time as I recently came down to the 'dig' area with my mam the footings for the new flats are well under way and soon that little patch will be lost
Cant help thinking how grateful I am for the filming you do capturing areas that we are losing to 'development' 10/10 again mate. Keep it up
Apologies for the grammar
Thanks Jordan much appreciated
another brilliant film thanks martin
Hey, thank you very much 👌
Fantastic piece of social history, fascinating to watch. Catching up on your back catalogue. lovely use of old maps.
Thanks very much Tim
I have just discovered your channel, Martin. Your videos are fantastic and I love your enthusiasm. I live in Royton, which I expect that you know, is the source of the River Irk.
Thank you for your fantastic videos. It's now 11 o'clock and I began watching at 3 o'clock.
i used to play round the river irk back in the early sixties i lived down henden vale which ran along it . the smedley hotel backed on to the river ,
from what i can gather it was branded the most polluted river in britain , this has brought back so many memories,
i took a day off from work to binge watch your superb videos, excellent research, this channel deserves way more subscribers!
Wow you took a day off 👍 I bet your tired of looking at me now 😃
thanx Martin ...just had another late night catching up on your vids .......fascinating stuff once again
Cheers John
This is an excellent video and so informative Martin, thank you so much for this. I so enjoyed it and it is so important to have all these places of Manchester history documented so well.
Thanks very much Barbs
I can't stop watching, all videos are so interesting!
Fantastic, thank you!
Great video, further down Rochdale Road there is a building that my grandma says was an old tram station, your maps show tram lines on Rochdale Road! I didnt really believe it untill i saw that! Around there you have Boggart Hole Clough, Blackley Villiage, Charlstown, Dam Head, and all the way up to Victoria Avenue and Heaton Park. Also there was a railway track that went to factories behind ICI that crossed a bridge over Crumpsall Lane demolished in the 90s, and there is some stuff along Harpurhey Road too, i used to explore all around there when i was a kid. At the clough, at the Charlstown Road/Rochdale Road side and around the boating lake it goes back at least 200 years with pics available online.
At Parkmount Road/Rochdale Road junction there was a big hall or mill opposite the Alliance pub that was demolished in about 2002, check that out.
And at Moston Lane/Rochdale Road junction is Harpurhey Baths and accross from there is Factory Lane that has loads of history you can feature.
Great video though i cant believe you arnt getting a million Mancs watching your stuff tbh you deserve more
Fascinated by watching your videos. Seeing the old town on Manchester. Do not know why but I like it, also when I see old pictures/houses of/in my hometown in Denmark. Getting nostalgic. Remembering what my town used to look like 🙂
Thanks you Hanne glad you like the videos
Great video, I really love the old buildings and the old constructions and especially theri history
Thank you very much Filippo
Standing ovation Martin 🎉🙌 Marvellous video! Loved it. Your research and info shared is fantastic, and photography is stunning. Wow.. I never knew about Vauxhall Gardens. Hope you don't mind me sharing it with a local group on Facebook. My friend Marise and I & our kids went exploring round Hopwood Hall a few days ago. Our lads pretended they was making video like you do in some of the overgrown areas, looking for clues etc. Ha ha. You're certainly an inspiration to get out & about and explore. (keeping safe of course!)
Well done yet again!!! 😀😀
Wow thats fantastic your lads looking for clues and pretending to make videos thats really touching and inspiring thank you, Great to see youngsters enjoying this stuff because they will always remember it. Hope you liked Hopwood Hall, the woods are amazing round there. Yes thank you for sharing the video's . Thank you for commenting 😀👌👌👌
another Brilliant video, well thought out and captured.. episode 2 tomorrow evening.
That was realy interesting Martin love the old maps and the then and Now keep up the good work
Once again another top Notch video excellent great stuff & Thanks for the link to Timepix found loads pictures of my local area Keep up the good work eagerly look forward to your next video thanks 👍
Hello, thank you very much. yes Timepix is a great site. Some of the pics don't reveal much but the ones that do are great 👌
Absolutely brilliant! I would love to see the Manchester Weekend Walkers do a walk in this area. I know of another historian who could lead the walk, and I could do the natural history aspect. Thank you Martin.
Great stuff Paul. Invite me
Very enjoyable , and really well done. great job putting all those pieces together.
Thanks Andrew
Great videos Martin. I grew up in Prestwich but live in Berlin now, so wonderful to see the changing face of Manchester and your historical investigations. I remember walking along the Irk in the late 70s, and it stank, with a lot of polluted effluent foaming on its surface. Wonderful to see that it is now a lot cleaner, and really great to see you track the industrial history.
Nice work. Those B/W photographs are stunning.
Thank you Hubert
Great vid Martin. We usually treat our surroundings as absolute, like bedrock. Your vids show that this is just an illusion. You have an inate gift for listening to the echoes of past eras. Keep up the great work mate
Thanks Matthew
Great video Martin really enjoying all your videos.
Epic video! My other half used to park on the site of the slum housing till it closed for the archeological dig. She sent me a picture last week from Coop asking what they were up to with the site......again you never know what’s under your feet or hidden away in a forgotten corner.
Hi Owen, yeah brilliant that they dig it up. Imagine all the other stuff hidden away
Fascinating to hear about Vauxhall Gardens and it's "poshness" 😂 It's amazing to think Moston used to be quite a posh area when you look at it now! Thanks for the video Martin 😀
Fascinating. Thanks Martin
Thank you
Hi Martin. Have you done, or thought about doing a video on Eagley Mills in Bolton. The 3 mills are now apartments but that whole area is fascinating and there’s a lot of photos from the time when it was still working at Bolton Library.
Brilliant work Martin.
Really enjoy your stuff.
Shocking to see the living conditions people lived in back then
Stunning video mate. Great product values.
Amazing video.
Oldest buildings yet very complex structures. I'm fascinated with our history and history on the whole. But something is wrong with the official time line.
Love this area of collyhurst been over every inch of it
Yeah me to, fascinated with it
Great video yet again..👍👍👍
Thank you Fac 51 😀
I like seeing old ruins covered in moss. And water.
You would think that Ebenezer works site would be crawling with kids. What an amazing place to run and explore! Wow!
The history on Manchester is amazing your doing a great job Martin and doing it in your time there should a documentary on this on tv as you doing it your putting your self out there and doing all the history on Manchester massive respect to you 👍🐝🏴
Gavin thanks very much. I really appreciate yours and everyones comments
I forgot to say Well Done for a very interesting and fascinating well researched video .
Thank you Olan
Top video. I grew up in Collyhurst and used to play in all the locations you have covered. I never knew there was so much history. I'd have got better than a D in GCSE history if this was the subject.
Ha brilliant, glad you recognise the places. I think History comes alive when you can relate to it. Last time I did history was 1981 so you and me both probably got D's 😆
goater1nil
Fabulous videos. Love that you love them too x
I'm here because of the "Trap Door" video.
Me too
Thanks for the timepix info nice one mart
Good site isnt it Jay
FYI: as of ~Nov 2021 the previously overgrown (and therefore hidden) main section of the Union Bridge has now been cleared. Furthermore, the banks of the river Irk are being cleared in both directions which is making everything much easier to see. I'm sure you're aware that work on the "Northern Gateway" has now begun, this will see that entire area redeveloped for housing with promises from the developer and council that public park spaces (St Catherine's Wood and the Impossible Bridge area) will be maintained. So the end of 2021 might be your last chance to see what's buried around the old Red Bank sidings area! There is a formal Friends Of St Catherine's Wood group by the way, which seems to be the way that the council prefers to engage with local stakeholders.
Wow just catching up on some of your older work, it is so interesting. Don't know much about Manchester, I live on Darren's side of the hills, but the industry history is indicative of the north.
Another superb production.
Great vid Martin...I worked at the Ebenezer works site in 1992 ..the company was called Thomas tabbeners &co who made a product called roller composition which was used for printing.i left at the start of 93 but not sure how long the company remained there...loving these vids!!
superb
I know the area well I grew up on Queens road, but I never knew all this. Great video, well explained and put together.
I must admit that little valley took me totally by surprise
Another great video Martin. And from looking at that timepix website I found a picture of a man standing on the doorstep of my childhood home. 20 Years before I was born!
Bloody Hell Paul thats amazing. You can buy the pics from them you know. Not sure what it costs. I need to look at my childhood homes now I never thought of that 👌
Martin. Great insight to the Irk Valley. Lots of hidden history. Glad you left the waders at home this time. 👍😄
Thank you very much. But you don't like my waders 😟😯 ?
Just recently found you. You do a wonderful job; suspiciously professorial.🤩👍
Thanks Carole. I assure you am just suspiciously an enthusiastic amateur
Abslolutely, ....amazing my mined was wondering like mad thinking about the people going about there every day life...
Thanks Stephen
Another great video. Thanks Martin.
Far better than TIME TEAM Well done
Cheers Mark 😆👍
Enjoyed this one Martin. Perhaps you could do a follow up contrasting the more rural Irk valley with the Manchester side? Notable features are: at the Middleton/Chadderton boundary with the Rochdale canal aqueduct, said at one time to be one of the highest, and through Chadderton Hall Park, followed by Chadderton Fold and then its source in Royton. A friend recommended your videos to me and they are right up my street being a Manchester lad myself.
Another fab video Martin. Love the old photos
Thank you Joy (Mrs Speakman) 😀
Yet another fantastic video Martin. Took me right back to my youth, used to cross that grade 2 bridge every day to and from work in the early 70's. Just over it was Fry's metals and the bone works (glue factory) A metal foundry a Duckhams oil place and where I worked A hall and Co. And on Vauxhall gardens they used to do Hot air balloon flights in the very early years of Ballooning.
Hi Alan thanks very much, actually yes I had read something about the Balloons. I cant believe how much that bridge has changed !!!
It was just a normal looking bridge when I used it, but by then was closed to traffic.
A very interesting video of many that i've watched again today, although in cornwall its still very interesting to watch. Keep up the good work :)
Thank you very much Mr Flintstone much appreciated 👍
Methinks!!! you show how the City planners neglected for many years this area of the City. Am I correct in thinking the ManCity Owner is developing the area. As usual a very descriptive doco. really informative and enjoyable.
Hi peter, I think they are looking into developing that corridor, calling it St Catherines
Love the intro'.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
E-zer works, e-zer works. He's Eberneezer works.
Ha 😀Brilliant
Mind blown! Thanks Martin!!!
Brilliant ! Thank you Alan 👍
Ta for the quick tour.
No Problem 👍
Amazing video , very interesting to see
It’s so mad watching this because I go where you are in vids every day
Martin getting a bit worried about you going into you going into some of these places on your own???
Thanks James. I know what you mean. I do sort of do a check around before I venture in. But thank you
Like no.106 fully watched another great and interesting video- You do a great service to Manchester 👌👌 I just realised that’s where I got my drone of you 👍
Yes you did Nathan. Not seen you since. Thank mate
Excellent mate. Love the before and after timepix, very cool.
Yeah good site that 👍 Thanks Ned
Brill vid martin. Realy enjoyed it! Love how you show the history of the place wth old photos. Surprised that some of the buildings structure still stands. 😎👍
I am surprised at how much of Ebenezer works is still standing. They left all that wall and those doorways Thanks a lot mate 👍