Everything about River Irwell totally explained
The
River Irwell is a
river in the counties of
Lancashire and
Greater Manchester in
England. It is one of several rivers that helped facilitate the
Industrial Revolution in
North West England and thus became the first river in the world to be polluted by industry.
The river's
source is at Irwell Springs on Deerplay Moor, about north of
Bacup, in the parish of
Cliviger, Lancashire. The Irwell flows through (and separates) the city centres of
Manchester and
Salford, before joining the
River Mersey.
Course
The
River Irwell is about in length. Rising on the moors above
Cliviger the Irwell flows south through
Bacup,
Rawtenstall,
Ramsbottom and
Bury before merging with the
River Roch near
Radcliffe. Turning west it's joined by the
River Croal near
Farnworth and runs south east through
Kearsley,
Clifton and
Agecroft then
meanders around
Lower Broughton and
Kersal, Salford Crescent and the centre of Manchester, joining the rivers
Irk and
Medlock. Again turning west, from Salford, it meets the Mersey south of
Irlam, where the route of the river was altered in the late 19th century to form part of the course of the
Manchester Ship Canal.
Natural History
Before the
Industrial Revolution the Irwell was well stocked with fish, and the people who lived in the houses near
Manchester Cathedral drew flagons of water from it for drinking and other domestic purposes. However, in the 19th century chemicals from the expanding industries poured into the river in increasing amounts. These pollutants were fatal to fish, the last of which were seen about 1850.
Despite its industrial past,
fish stocks in the River Irwell are improving and
brown trout are becoming an increasingly common sight.
Coarse fish now predominate throughout the river's course and beyond into the
Manchester Ship Canal.
Water fowl,
herons and
cormorants are also resident on the river. New problems became apparent with the redevelopment of the
Salford Quays area of the
Manchester Ship Canal. Years of runoff from sewers and roads had accumulated in the slow running waters of this area and decomposition of the organic matter was causing
oxygen depletion of the water. In 2001 a compressed air injection system was introduced, which raised the oxygen levels in the water by up to 300%. The resulting improvement in water quality has led to an increase in the number of invertebrate species, such as freshwater
shrimp, to more than 30.
Spawning and growth rates of fish species such as
roach and
perch
have also increased to such an extent that they're now amongst the highest in
England.
Two
Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) are located close to the banks of the Irwell when it flows between
Prestolee and
Little Lever. The first is
Nob End, an 8.8 hectare (21.7 acre) site which has been designated because of its biological interest, based on the predominance of herbs typical of
limestone grassland. The habitat at Nob End was formed by the dumping of toxic
alkali waste between 1850 and 1870, which subsequently weathered into
calcium carbonate, permitting the establishment of chalk-loving vegetation. Limestone grassland isn't normally found in Greater Manchester, and many of these species are not found elsewhere in the county. The second site is Ashclough, a site of geological interest that's described below in the Geology section. These two SSSIs are among the
21 found in Greater Manchester.
In Salford the river flows through
Clifton Country Park and Kersal Dale Country Park, both of which have been designated as a
Local Nature Reserves (LNRs).
Geology
The Irwell is all that remains of the shallow seas that covered most of south-east Lancashire in the
Upper Carboniferous era when deposits of mud and sand were laid down. These later became beds of
shales and
sandstones alternating with layers of
gritstone. There are also beds of
new red sandstone and Manchester
Marls. The
glaciers of the
Pleistocene period further shaped the landscape and then retreated, leaving behind deposits of sand, pebbles and
boulder clay that formed the
fluvioglacial ridges of the Irwell Valley. Ashclough, a 5.8 hectare (14.3 acre) site which comprises the steep banks of the river between Prestolee and Little Lever, has been designated a
Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) because of its geological interest, primarily because it's the best site in the area displaying
Ashcough Marine Band and its associated strata. Ashclough is a site of national importance for interpreting the coal measure paleogeography of Great Britain.
History
The origins of the name Irwell are uncertain but many accept the
Anglo-Saxon origin: Ere-well, meaning "hoar or white spring".
The first known human settlements were those of the
Celtic tribe, the
Brigantes, who farmed the uplands and lower reaches of the river. In 79 AD the
Romans conquered these tribes, built forts at the confluences of the Irwell and the rivers
Irk and
Medlock, calling the town
Mamucium. They also built a ford with rectangular stone blocks at Cornbrook, which is thought to be the first man-made structure to span the river. and built their villas along the river. For four hundred years the
Pax Romana brought peace but the Romans withdrew in 410 AD leaving the tribes to be overun by the
Saxons who renamed the town Manigceastre. The Danes seized and all but destroyed Manigceastre and the tribes were dispersed or absorbed by the Danes. The
Danelaw ruled until 920 AD when the Norsemen were expelled by
Edward the Elder.
In the
Middle Ages the town, which was now known as Manceastre (later to be known as
Manchester), grew and prospered and trading vessels plied along the river.
During the Industrial Revolution factories, mills and terraced hovels grew up along the river banks. Edward Corbett, the Borough Engineer of Salford wrote in his book
The River Irwell published in 1907, that his father had told him that, about 1819, he'd seen from the New Bailey bridge, (now Albert Bridge) in the centre of Manchester "large shoals of fish, chiefly gudgeon but also other fish, were rising to the flies." Such chemicals as gas-tar, gas-lime and ammonia water were fatal to the fish stocks and by 1850 they'd all disappeared. In 1860 the Irwell was described as "almost proverbial for the foulness of its waters; receiving the refuse of cotton factories, coal mines,print works, bleach works, dye works,chemical works, paper works, almost every kind of industry."
Since the late 19th century many attempts have made to improve the quality of the water in the Irwell. In 1891 the Mersey and Irwell Joint Committee was formed. This body ordered local authorities to provide
sewage treatment facilities and industrial concerns were told to use the best practical means of preventing pollution. In 1939 this body was superseded by the Lancashire Rivers Board, but wartime conditions brought about further deterioration of the river. In 1951 the Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) Act was passed and this board disappeared to be replaced by the Mersey River Board, which was replaced in turn by the Mersey and Weaver River Authority in 1965. In 1974 all the river authorities were merged into the Regional Water Authorities. Since then there has been a gradual improvement in water quality, and today wildlife is returning to the Irwell.
Mark Addy
One of the most famous characters associated with the river was Mark Addy, who lived in a
tenement in The Parsonage near Blackfriars Bridge in
Manchester, known as Stage Buildings. His father owned several racing boats and pleasure craft for hire on the river and, even before he learned to swim, young Mark had already saved two people from the water, one by floating out on a plank and the other by wading up to his neck in the river. He became a strong swimmer and, after he married, acquired a tavern on the
Salford side of the river. Whenever anyone was in difficulties the cry would go up "Bring Mark Addy" and he'd race to rescue them. He was awarded a number of medals including the gold and silver medals from the Humane Society for the
Hundred of Salford, and the
Royal Humane Society's bronze medal. In 1878 he became the only civilian ever to be awarded the
Albert Medal (first class), the predecessor of the
Victoria Cross.
His last rescue was on
Whit Monday 1889, when he saved a young boy from the river. He died of tuberculosis the following year, at the age of 51, by which time he'd rescued over 50 people from the river. There is also a
public house, named "The Mark Addy", built in the old coal wharves on the Salford side of the river near New Bailey Street.
Commerce
In the late 17th century, the
Warrington businessman Thomas Patten, had made the
River Mersey navigable as far as Warrington and suggested that there would be significant commercial value in extending this along the Irwell as far as Manchester. In 1721,
Parliament authorised the alteration with the "Mersey and Irwell Navigation Act", and by 1736 work had been completed by creating eight
canal locks along the route from Warrington to Manchester, allowing access to boats of up to . The waterway played a central role in the
cotton industry of the 18th century that spear-headed the
Industrial Revolution.
When
James Brindley built the
Bridgewater Canal, the task of crossing the Irwell Valley was one of the main obstacles he faced. His solution was to build a canal-carrying bridge across the river, the world's first commercially driven
aqueduct. The bridge consisted of three arches, and measured high, long and wide. Upon its opening in 1761 it earned the nickname of "the Castle in the Air" and proved hugely successful in the industry of the area. The Mersey and Irwell Navigation and the Bridgewater Canal competed for trade to and from Manchester for the next 120 years and specially designed barges with a shallow
draft, known as
"Mersey flats", were used on both waterways. Over the years both trade and rivalry continued to grow with each company offering reduced freight charges or special rates and concessions to gain business from the other. The most important cargo carried was raw cotton from Liverpool to Manchester but timber, dyewoods,
pig iron, lead, copper, nails, tar, sand, grain and flour were also carried. Passenger services had been operating on the Bridgewater Canal for some years and in 1807 the Irwell and Mersey Navigation Company began to compete with daily services between
Runcorn and
Manchester. In 1816 they began to use packet steamers, however, in 1830 the
Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened,
packet boat services went into decline, and ceased to operate completely in the 1860s. In Manchester two other canals used the Irwell as a point of access – the
Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal from 1809, and the
Manchester and Salford Junction Canal from 1839. Both are now non-navigable however the former is under restoration.
As the 19th century progressed, the increasing need for large freight carriers led to
Liverpool's dominance as a port. Manchester became increasingly reliant on its
Merseyside neighbour for its export industry but the handling charges and dues charged by the
Mersey Docks and Harbour Board made goods from Manchester uncompetitive. A solution was to build the
Manchester Ship Canal. In 1887 the Bridgewater Navigation Company was purchased by the Manchester Ship Canal Company with a cheque for £1,710,000, which was at the time the largest cheque ever written, and the building of the Manchester Ship Canal began.
The Manchester Ship Canal, made by the expansion of the route of the Mersey and Irwell Navigation, opened in 1894. Although it came too late to save the cotton industry that had made the region the centre of the Industrial Revolution, it transformed Manchester into England's third largest port, despite being inland. As the canal was built, it became clear that Brindley's famous aqueduct would have to be demolished, as it allowed insufficient headroom for the freighters that the canal would carry. Fortunately, in 1896 the councillors of Eccles paid to have the aqueduct moved to the spot it occupies today, alongside the canal. Instead, the
Bridgewater Canal is now carried over the Irwell/Ship Canal by the equally celebrated
Barton Swing Aqueduct, which was completed in 1893 with the novel idea of "opening" by rotating 90 degrees to allow ships to pass.
The construction of the
Manchester Ship Canal and the
Salford Docks led to the development of
Trafford Park as a centre of heavy industry and brought employment to the area for the next eighty years. However, by the 1960s the
UK began to lose its position as an industrial world power. The decline of the heavy industries in the area, the increasing size of freight carrying ships and competition from road transport brought about the decline of
Salford Docks and they eventually closed in 1982. A large urban regeneration project, The
Salford Quays Development Plan, was published in 1985 and work began a few years later to redevelop the site for residential, business and leisure purposes. The Salford Quays waterside development has made living by the Irwell, and the Manchester Ship Canal into which it flows, fashionable once again.
There are further plans to "turn the tide on the years of neglect and once again embrace the River Irwell as a fundamental part of Manchester and Salford's heritage and future economic and social growth. The vision is to reinvent the central Manchester conurbation as the major waterfront destination in Northern England." A number of key stakeholders are involved in the development of this regeneration vision. These include Manchester, Salford and Trafford councils, Manchester Ship Canal Company, Environment Agency, Mersey Basin Campaign, local businesses, landowners, community groups and the wider Manchester, Salford and Trafford
communities.
Sport on the Irwell
There has been rowing on the Irwell in Manchester and Salford since 1823. A regatta was inaugurated on
12 September 1842, on a straight course from Throstle's Nest Weir to Regent Road Bridge. Racing continued in Manchester with events such as Agecroft Regatta and Warburton Regatta. At the turn of the century, rowing was very popular in the area with many local clubs such as Nemesis, Prince of Wales, Minerva, Didsbury and Agecroft all competing regularly. However, the state of the river declined, and by the Second World War only Agecroft and Broughton rowing clubs were still active.
Agecroft Rowing Club was formed in 1861, making it one of the oldest open membership rowing clubs in the world. The club originally held regattas and participated in rowing events but was primarily a social club for rowing enthusiasts and was based near to
Agecroft Hall. It now operates from a boathouse next to the Salford Watersports Centre at
Salford Quays which it shares with the
University of Salford Boat Club. The boathouse also hosts the
Northern Universities Boat Race, which was held on the river from 1972, but moved to the Quays in the early 1990s.
Irwell Sculpture Trail
The
Irwell Sculpture Trail is one of the largest public art initiatives and the longest sculpture trail in the UK. The trail consists of a scenically varied, 30 mile walking route based on the well-established Irwell Valley Trail stretching from Salford Quays to the moors above Bacup. Since 1987 over 30 pieces of public art have been commisioned from regional, national and international artists.
Flood defences
The lower reaches of the Irwell have flooded many times in its history, the most well documented being the floods of 1866, 1946, 1954, 1980, and 2007. Two flood storage basins with a capacity of have been constructed to the west of Littleton Road,
Kersal, at a cost of around £11 million, to alleviate the flood problem and protect some 3,000 properties in Kersal and Lower Broughton against the 1 in 75 year flood as part of the River Irwell Flood Defence Scheme. However, it's said that a 1 in a 100 year flood would breach these defences and cause some £55 million damage to property]]. The defences proved successful on
2008-01-22, when the worst flooding to hit the region in thirty years caused the Irwell to burst its banks further downstream in the centre of Manchester.
Tributaries
Moving upstream from the Mersey Confluence, the tributaries include the following: -
Further Information
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