Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

http://www.noriweb.co.uk/images/web-images/img_4973.jpg

Does anyone know who is polluting Tinker Brook? I took this picture where Tinker brook enters the river Hyndburn just under the Motorway bridge nr the Dunkenhalgh. It runs nice and clear up in Oswaldtwistle, yet appears down here very sickly looking. The river looks ill. I have noticed it a few times this year running this colour.

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

Yuk Rocky ... suggest you forward to the relevant body responsible for sorting out pollution problems .. somebody will find it for you ... LOL.

By the way, you weren't going up the Coppice the other day on yer bike were you ? The day of the Centenary ? Someone passed as I was on the way down with just that gear on ... bit hot and bothered, but still with a big smile on his face. :D

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

I notice the infestation of Himalayan Balsam
Himalayan Balsam, recognition and eradication
A large succulent, annual introduced in 1839 to Kew Gardens as a greenhouse plant, it escaped to the wild, now naturalised in the British Isles and many other non-native countries - it is very invasive and should be removed when found.

If you see this plant, destroy it, preferably before it seeds in October

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

Well spotted Margaret ... although I 'aint paddling through that water to pull up those plants ... after you .... :D

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

As you say, it certainly doesn't look like that, further up it's course in Ossy.

There's a telephone nember on this link, which allows you to report river pollution, and hopefully have it investigated.

Environment Agency - Contact us

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

is the river hyndburn what some call 'river stink' ?

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

Oh dear, is it never going to shake off this name ... yes, Restless .. but it is OK now.

Do you think could be some type of fertilizer ?

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

It was always that colour when I was a kid. And boy did it stink, sorry Kate. It was a long time ago.

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

It did Alan .. remember it well, mixture of rotting rat corpses and chemicals, but honest, has been cleaned up. :)

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

It's probably a good thing the powers that be weren't in charge when the old Urban Councils were amalgamated in 1973. Otherwise we'd probably be paying our council tax today to Stink Borough Council.

Though I'm sure the Duke of Kent wouldn't have needed to ask where it was.

:D

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

The worst polluted brook in my youth was the Swanee, Cockers used to use it to run of their water after doing any cleaning, it stunk of TCP, all the stones were white and loads of frothy bubbles were always flying about, weren't reght good for fishing either:D

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

TCP, havent heard of that for yonks, what does TCP stand for John. Remember the smell though. IZAL toilet paper , Is it still in production, A bit hard on the bum, Also a question, where does the Hyndburn start and end.

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

TCP Alen now let me see Trichlorophenylmethyliodosalicyl:D plays havoc with the spell check I can tell you (I googled it by the way, I'm no boffin:D) as for Hyndburn its boundaries are Blackburn, Rossendale, Riddle Valley and Burnley in the main. Well I never my spell check actually picked TCP up, must have copied a letter wrong:D

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

I don't know the name of that brook, but when I a was young it was bright orange, after it had passed Cocker's.

Upstream it was lovely and clean.

It's amazing how industry was guilty of so much pollution, for so long a time.

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

The river Hyndburn is just the joining of Warmden Water and Woodnook Water, they meet under Cross St, in Acc at the Black Abbey St end. Woodnook Water comes under the old Ritz Cinema across Church St, down the bottom of Black Abbey St and curves to go along Cross St. Warmden Brook, comes down through Broad Oak factory, crosses Manchester Rd just past the end of the old Fire Station, curves right and runs under the pavement down Grange Lane, till it joins the other river.

The reddish colour to the Hyndburn mostly came from the Turkey Red Factory up Baxenden, which ran in a steel pipe till it got past all the mills on Victoria St.
The other colours came from the dye houses in Broad Oak Factory.
The river Stink ends when it meet the Calder.
Retlaw.

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

The only Swanee I knew was the swamp/pond on Thwaites Rd. Was there a brook with the same name?

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

I always knew the Brook as the Swanee West Ender, the swamp was always said to be dangerous and had quicksand in it, how true that was I never ventured to find out, next to Thwaites Road there were ruins of an old mill with the foundations filling up with water, which was a breeding ground for frogs, they were just masses of frog spawn around in spring

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

I'm with West Ender on this one.

The Swanee was the boggy pond.

The brook ran past it.

It enters Ossy from Knuzden, goes down Brookside, past Cocker's, then down White Ash, past Higher and Lower Twynch, running past where the dangerous Swanne was.

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

What I was saying Rindi was that when I was young I also knew the brook as the swanee too

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

I was going to reply to this with a statement something to the effect that there are a couple of hazardous landfill sites dotted around Church and as such there may well be some seepage into the river. I did a quick google on Wm. Blythes, because I know they process a few heavy metals. Look what's turned up:


Fine William Blythes Church - Google Search

I don't recall reading 'owt about this in either the Observer or the LT, but I suppose they missed it because Blyths HQ is down in Essex. Just a shame Blythes can't move their entire chemical plant down there.

Things could have been pretty nasty.

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

They dont want it in the green pleasant south. They would kick up a stink to leave it in Church. But if it was something they wanted they would get it whether we liked it or not. Mind you have seen Dippers feeding at the Bull Brig which must give hope.

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

Are you sure they weren't Japanese kamikazi dippers?

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

The water in the Hyndburn flowing thro Accy is now clean enough to support wild life. Its after it leaves Accy when it get polluted again.

Retlaw

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

Sometimes you impress me with your knowledge! Good answer Retlaw!

Atarah

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

...and despite the pollution, there's trout and other fish to be found in the river down by the Dunkenhalgh. I wouldn't have 'em for my tea, though.

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

where does it pass under the canal ?, I'm thinking somewhere in Church. but can't find it on Google earth , seems most of it is channeled/culverted underground during its run thru Accrington and Church :confused:

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

I too have been thwarted in attempts to track streams on google earth.
The vegetation on the banks obscures the water in many places and you find you have been tracking a hedge!

I live very near Tinker Brook and have strolled to it down the alottment tracks several times.
I would like to trace its origin physically but haven't the stamina.
Please will someone guide me where to look on google earth.

PS - cancel that request - found Jackhouse res - silly me:o

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

Right. Cast you mind back god knows how many years:

1) The Tinker comes down through Ossy and then runs parallel with Coach Road for about 100yds before it is culverted under the canal & Blackburn Road about 150yds West of the old Church Commercial/Hargreaves Warehouse/Church Traffic Lights. The Tinker at this point forms the border between Church & Ossy. The canal, by the way, precedes Blackburn Road in age. The river then turns West by Blythes.

It joins with the Aspen brook, is culverted again and emerges to join the Hyndburn just on the southern side of the M65 Motorway, which goes roughly in an East/West direction and slices through the Dunk estate.

2) The Hyndburn flows under the canal at Church by Peel Bank and then turns west to meet the Tinker, re;above.

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

Near Church Kirk.

Retlaw

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

For a spell of a few months (whilst a house I owned was renovated) I rented a semi in the northern corner of Laburnum drive. The back garden was too steep to venture down and there was a stream at the bottom- Priestley Clough I believe.
The noise of the water was very audible in the house, so there must have been quite a mass of water in it at times.
This stream is difficult to track at either end.

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

I'll correct that statement, was thinking about it last night and it came to me that we didn't call it the Swanee we called it Cocker Brook, maybe wasn't the right name but because it took waste from Cocker Chemicals

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

The stream/river that comes down through Priestly Clough starts up above Stonefold, comes down alongside Northfield Rd, then under Manchester Rd near Bash Post office and down towards Shoe Mill and the cloughs.
Laburnum Drive is in Ossy nowhere near Priestly Clough,
that clough runs alongside the old rail line from Acc to Manchester.

Retlaw

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

Thanks for putting that right for me - does the brook I describe have a name?

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

Thought it was White Ash Brook Tealeaf? Then it becomes known as Hyndburn Brook down on its way to meet the Calder .. down Great Harwood.

Have never seen where our river meets the Calder near the sewerage works.. is it accessable ? Anyone any 'photos ?

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

Its starts of somewhere round the top of Green Haworth, runs down behind Fern Gore, under High St, then between Laburnum and Pendleton, the disappears underground near Mayfield.
Can't find a name on the map.

Retlaw.

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

Are you on the pop again? Still, there's nowt wrong with the occaisional early start.

Look - the Tinker goes through Ossy, down by Foxhill bank, under Blackburn road, partially under Blythes, meets up with another stream from Ossy and then joins the Hyndburn by where the motorway cuts through the Dunkenhalgh estate. The Hyndburn continues on to join the Calder. Do I have to repeat myself?

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

No sweetypops . was just questioning the name of the other stream that joined Tinker Brook, you said Aspden Brook, thought it was called White Ash Brook (or was there another ? ) then met the Hyndburn down on its way to the Calder.

Would I query your expert local knowledge of this stream going through Oswaldtwistle ? :rolleyes:

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

Perhaps it was called Rothwell Brook Retlaw ... seeing as it started up around Rothwell Heights .... never know MargaretR ! :D

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

Actually does look like this stream was not named .. excerpt from a footpath application to L.C.C. :-

'A claim has been received for a footpath extending from a point on Larch Road, Oswaldtwistle, Hyndburn Borough, to the west of no. 14 Larch Road, via the eastern and western side of an un-named stream, to rejoin Larch Road at the same point, a distance of approximately 470metres, and shown between points A – B – C – D – E – F – B - A on the attached plan, (from and to GR 7500 2728) with a link to Public Footpath No. 347 Accrington, a distance of approximately 80 metres, and shown between points E – G on the attached plan, (GR 7505 2734 to GR 7509 2728), to be added to the Definitive Map and Statement of Public Rights of Way'

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

Seems to start at a small lodge near Bottoms Farm, may be we should call it Bums Rush.
There is very little detail of the stream on large scale ordnance survey maps, but lower down there is a foot path named Lovers Walk.

Retlaw.

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

I have just googled 'unnamed streams' - seems it is by no means unusual.
Maybe they were given names when they were being used -eg for liquid waste disposal, or as a water supply, and this one never has been so used, and that maybe because its surface exposure is short lived and it is not near industry. Property adjacent is relatively new too

PS 'Bums Rush' it will now forever be :D

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

There seems to be quite a lot of confusion over the name of the stream that runs from Jacobs Lodge down past Fern Gore and behind Laburnum Drive through the old Paddock House school and into the lodges (now filled in) behind what was Rist's Wire. It has been established on this web (cant find the thread) that it was called Antley Syke and is named on an old map of Accrington. Though I have never heard it called by that name. The part of the stream that runs from High St./ Fern Gore Avenue down to Fairfield St., between Laburnum Drive and Pendleton Avenue was always known as Nelson's Clough, probably because the land belonged to Dunnyshop Farm and the farmer was called Nelson. Dunnyshop Farm was where Slaidburn Ave. and Kingston Ave. meet. From High St. upto the bottom of Broadfield Rd. it was known as "th'ironwater" because (this bit is an assumption) when they built the new houses on Broadfield Rd. there was a natural spring that was diverted and piped down and under the track that runs parallel to the stream and came out through a 12 inch iron pipe. This water ran at the same rate all year round and the stream bed had a reddish colour from that point on hence "th'ironwater". It did have a stange taste but it must not have been poisonous, I'm still here and so are the others that used to drink it. The part of the stream that runs behind Cartmell Ave. to Jacobs Lodge I can't remember it having a name.
Tetti

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

You're right.

There was a thread, asking the name of that particular stream, started by the much missed Tinks.

Here it is.

http://www.accringtonweb.com/forum/f...eam-22563.html

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

What an entertaining thread that was - Thanks for finding it. - pity some of the links don't work now, but those Ossy mills maps show clearly-
Antley Syke - hoo'd a thowt it :)
Kate - how come you didn't remember after all the effort you made to find out back then?

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

Thanks John & Retlaw, My dad worked at Broad Oak for many years as a textile printer, always came home smelling of bleach & chemicals.

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

Oh my goodness !!! THAT STREAM !! Don't know why I didn't remember it .. who could forget meeting Tinks and her entourage for the first time ! ..... guess my stupid head has swollen over the past few years ...:silly: http://planetsmilies.net/confused-smiley-17502.gif

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

Or it could be, like most of us kate, your losing those little grey cells as you get older,:D unfortunately I'm losing mine quicker than most:rolleyes:

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

Sorry Retlaw - champagne for the naming ceremony cancelled:(

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

I think people are getting mixed up between the stream that Margaret and I were discussing, and Antley Brook.

Attached is the first recorded reference to Antley Brook,
from the Coucher Book of Kirkstall, this reference has been dated circa 1193.

Retlaw.

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

I failed Latin GCE but can see the relevance of that document.
On looking at the map from Ossy Mills the brook I was referring to is described there as Antley Syke.
I am aware that historians distort the truth for their own reasons, so the only way to resolve this is to decide by consensus what we consider it ought to be named

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

[quote=MargaretR;753439]I failed Latin GCE but can see the relevance of that document.

Margaret, your lucky there were no GCE's when I left school, I knew nowt, all I got from the headmaster was the cane. Thats why I spent so much time in the library, learning, joined the library over sixty five years ago and still learning. Josie the librarian got all the latin dictionarys she could find, and I spent some hours translating it. Attached just or you is what I came up with.

Retlaw

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

Thank you Retlaw.....it is clear from that document that there is and was a brook named Antley, but because I am not familiar with the locations of the other landmarks specified I am not qualified to say whether the brook that passes Laburnum Drive is the same one mentioned in that ancient document.
I guess I am destined not to know:) unless I spend effort to find out.
I will just accept that your sound knowledge of local history is most likely to provide the right answer

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

I wonder how many of you recall that the original plans for Hyndburn Sports Centre, back in the 1970's, envisaged the main entrance as being facing the bottom of India Street, rather than facing Henry Street. The entire complex had to be rotated 90 degrees because the pool part would have rested over the Antley Syke just before it enters the Stink, which was deemed unacceptable.

The Sports Centre is therefore actually in Accy, with only the road entrance to, and part of the car park, being in Church, although HBC say it is in Church. That part of the car park which is now a part-time gypsy site is in Accy.

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

Margaret.

I've spent the morning in my 2nd home, and found an old map (1900) which shows where the Antley Syke comes above ground, the first showing was a well near Knowles buildings, (now gone) then the lodge near Bottoms Farm. I've coloured it in blue.

Retlaw.

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

Solved then :D - it is the one that passes by the corner of Laburnum Drive

Re: Pollution of the river Hyndburn
 

I believe it starts (or finishes) at Jacob’s Lodge, between Rough Hey and the Bedlam area of Green Haworth (top of Willows Lane) and is called Antley Syke. I’m trying to find the owner of Jacob’s Lodge, which is not recorded at HM Land Registry. There is a bit of a “local dispute” going on, and a neighbouring land owner wants to try and claim it if the owner can’t be found. I’ve contacted Mr. Peter Hargreaves of former Moscow Mill (now Oswaldtwistle Mills) who still has the big sluice key hanging in his office, but he doesn’t know who owns the Lodge. Moscow Mill was originally built by the Walmsleys, who lived at Rough Hey at the time. Jacob’s Lodge was the mill lodge for Moscow Mill and possibly for other factories such as Steiners.