Around Manchester Road Switch Bridge
English Heritage list this bridge as Grade 2 and have this to say about it....
Roving bridge and road bridge.
1804 but widened on both sides in the C19 and C20. Snecked, rock-faced and hammer-dressed stone, brick, cast iron and concrete. The original elliptical-arch tunnel which is grooved for stop planks was widened to the north in the mid-C19 with a truncated elliptical keystone arch which is now partly obscured by the C20 footpath bridge. The south was widened later in C19 in brick and is separated from the tow-path bridge by two pipelines. The tow-path bridge has a spiral walkway, panelled cast iron parapet walls and a flat stone slab deck. Interest stems from the bridges evolutionary development.
I spent many a dinner time hanging around here when I was at Greenfield Street School... there used to be two old traction engines on the spare ground where the old pit head was. It must have been a very busy area at one time, barges being loaded here with coal... and then just through the bridge was the main wharf.. still there today by the way. Always worth a walk around this area of Hyde's industrial past.
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I walked down Wood End Lane to Captain Clarke's and then down to Manchester Road this afternoon - took about 50 photographs - saw a heron.
Those bridges are a thing of beauty with all the cobbles!
Have you seen the Heron on Stonepit reservoir,Gerald?
I remember a time not that far back when a view of a Heron was very rare... and that stretch of the canal was far to busy and noisy.. Now Herons venture into my neighbours gardens to take their breakfast of Goldfish. I was once lucky enough to watch a Heron being mobbed mid flight by 3 Crows. I could not believe the aerobatics this Heron showed, twisting and climbing, then going into a dive.... I would not have believed it possible a bird such as an Heron had that capability. There's a lot of birds and wildlife around Hyde now. Near by the Print Works you can see both King Fishers and Dippers. 4 years back a Buzzard made it's home in Pole Bank Woods, Sparrow Hawks and Kestrels can be seen almost daily. Stoats near to the bus station and Clarke Way. I could go on.. ha!
loving these shots :-)
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