On the banks of the River Irwell in Manchester Salford we found a mysterious tunnel. Cut into the sandstone it didnt show on any of the old maps. We suspected it had a connection to the industrial past. So we decided to investigate. We strongly suspect this mystery tunnel is an overflow tunnel for the Manchester Bolton and Bury canal that was higher up the bank above alongside the river Irwell. Indeed there was a rather busy canal lock directly above called Giants seat locks. When we got to the end of the tunnel there was a shaft and indeed we surmised it was infrastructure for the canal. The Manchester Bolton Bury canal was built around 1791 in the canal building years. A prominent investor was Matthew Fletcher who also owned and ran the Wet Earth colliery. This is a wonderful piece of Georgian canal architecture.
Music: Track Ascension by Jason Southern