Gnat Bank Mill near Rochdale - Derelict Manchester:

Derelict Manchester:

A view of the hidden parts around the inner sections around the city centre of Manchester, UK and beyond . How you perceive these derelict sites could be morbid, yet exciting.

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Gnat Bank Mill near Rochdale

 Located between Rochdale and Heywood and situated at the bottom of a densely wooded valley, and close to the banks of the river Roch. The area originally known as ‘Natfield’ has been mentioned in documents that go back to 1534.In the early stages of the Industrial Revolution, the banks of the river Roch, was the most sought after location for the emerging manufacturers of wool and cotton processing, as they could use the potent source of the river  to power the machinery. 

<img src=" Gnat Bank Mill.jpeg" alt=" urban exploring uk, underground places around manchester">





<img src=" Gnat Bank Mill.jpeg" alt=" urban exploring uk, underground places around manchester">


<img src=" Gnat Bank Mill.jpeg" alt=" urban exploring uk, underground places around manchester">

<img src=" Gnat Bank Mill.jpeg" alt=" urban exploring uk, underground places around manchester">
<img src=" Gnat Bank Mill.jpeg" alt=" urban exploring uk, underground places around manchester">



<img src=" Gnat Bank Mill.jpeg" alt=" urban exploring uk, underground places around manchester">






Tunnel I
Height 1584.96 mm [5.2ft]  Width 1798.32 mm [5.9ft]
Unsure of the function of the tunnels, as the recess is approximately 1828.8 mm [6ft] above the banks of the river. Inside the tunnel, the brickwork appears to be worn, indicating an older structure. Inside the arch on the left-hand side, the ceiling has a wooden lining, whether it was used as a form of membrane to allow a clear flow, or to avoid debris from the erosion of brickwork, still unsure at this stage.
Partial elements of stone structures and brick are at the junction points.

<img src=" Gnat Bank Mill.jpeg" alt=" urban exploring uk, underground places around manchester">

<img src=" Gnat Bank Mill.jpeg" alt=" urban exploring uk, underground places around manchester">


The image above leads to what I labelled as Tunnel III, the ceiling has a wooden membrane..

Tunnel II

Is approximately 12192 mm [40ft] in length and 1737.36 mm [5.7ft] high Width 2133.6 mm [7ft] and is closed off at the end one of the features include a cast iron pipe that protrudes from the ceiling may have been used as an outlet.

<img src=" Gnat Bank Mill.jpeg" alt=" urban exploring uk, underground places around manchester">





<img src=" Gnat Bank Mill.jpeg" alt=" urban exploring uk, underground places around manchester">

<img src=" Gnat Bank Mill.jpeg" alt=" urban exploring uk, underground places around manchester">





Tunnel III

Located at the west side of the mill, this conduit goes for 91.44 meters [100 yards]
At one time, may have been able to stand upright, however due to the build up of silt,
 just about manage to crawl in.



<img src=" Gnat Bank Mill.jpeg" alt=" urban exploring uk, underground places around manchester">

<img src=" Gnat Bank Mill.jpeg" alt=" urban exploring uk, underground places around manchester">



Legends

 

If you take the footpath heading east towards Meadow Mill, was a row of cottages

which have since disappeared. The cottages were situated on a spot known as

‘Tyrone’s Bed’, or the dialectical corruption ‘Yel’s of Throne’.

 Embellished in John Roby’s Traditions of Lancashire (2 vols, Manchester, 1872), I, 220–46: according to legend, the Earl of Tyrone hid in these woods close to Gnat Bank.

 In a bend of the Roach, to the north of Morland or Merland, is Tyrone’s Bed, a woody glen, admired for its picturesque scenery, which is said to have been the retreat of one of the Earls of Tyrone in the reign of Elizabeth. The craggy rocks on the one side of this lovely valley, and the steep wooded slopes on the other, with the rivulet in the channel below, are not inappropriately termed “the bed;” but the chief interest of this “romantic dell” centred in the ancient home of the Holts of Grizelhurst, but of which not a vestige now remains. At the period of the legend it was surrounded “by dark and almost trackless woods,” which would furnish a refuge for the wanderer, “secure from hostility or alarm.” The Earl of Tyrone who claimed to be a King in Ireland, by his rebellions harassed Queen Elizabeth and her armies for years during the latter period of her reign. His history would fill a volume. Hugh O’Neale was nephew to Shan (John) O’Neale, or “the great O’Neale,” as he was more commonly called. He was well known for his great courage, a virtue much prized by the half-civilised hordes he commanded. He was created Earl of Tyrone by Queen Elizabeth, but disliking the allegiance this implied, and desirous to liberate his country from the English yoke, he entered into a correspondence with Spain, procured from thence a supply of arms and ammunition; and having united many of the Irish chiefs in a dependence upon himself, he soon proved himself a formidable enemy of English rule in Ireland. Tyrone and the other chiefs fled, and the Spaniards capitulated. It is supposed that at this period the outlawed Earl crossed the sea into England, and remained for some time concealed in the neighbourhood of Rochdale. The site of a few cottages in a romantic dell by the river Roach is still associated with the memory of the unfortunate Earl, and yet bears the name of “Tyrone’s Bed.” Upon this fact Mr Roby has based a fictitious love story. Tyrone is made to save from drowning Constance the daughter of Holt of Grizelhurst; they love; she conceals him from pursuit by the sheriff and posse in a hidden chamber, the entrance to which is from her own bedroom. He escapes, and she wastes away and dies, the victim of the prophecy. Tyrone eventually secured a pardon from Queen Elizabeth.

source: http://moorwood.de/index.


Complete video footage  by Martin Zero: What lies under the old mill ?


<img src=" Threads of Time.jpeg" alt="real life timeslip cases">





















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