Jake of Winter Hill Adventures: Red Moss Tramways, Middlebrook, Horwich

Friday 5 August 2011

Red Moss Tramways, Middlebrook, Horwich

OS extract from circa 1900, Gibbs farm on the left side and the old loco works at the top.
Note From Dad : the old tramways exist now it would make sense to explore more of this area on these old tramways,
The Harriers’ first cross country course interestingly enough crossed the infamous Red Moss heath long before any talk of a super tip or even the M61 motorway. Taken from
http://www.horwichrmiharriers.co.uk/history.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Moss,_Greater_Manchester?oldid=0

http://nwex.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2677
"In 1886 a problem arose with Park Hall or Arley Main Colliery, Blackrod. This had been worked for upwards of 20 years by Ridgeway & Co under Roger Leigh’s estate. By November 1885 the seams were becoming exhausted and Ridgeways gave notice determining the lease. Wigan Coal & Iron Co then decided to take over the colliery in order to continue working the pumps until an aqueduct had been constructed to convey Ridgeway’s water through Scot Lane workings to Aspull Pumping Pit. The make of water at Ridgeways was 210,000 gallons per day. They had worked to a fault under Red Moss at Horwich. This moss has been described as ‘notorious’. The waterway from Ridgeways to Scot Lane No5 to connect with that from Scot Lane to Aspull pumps was made under an agreement between Wigan Coal & Iron Co and Elias Dorning, part owner of Park Hall Estate. " taken from
http://nwex.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2677
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horwich
http://toolserver.org/~rhaworth/os/coor_g.php?pagename=Red_Moss,_Greater_Manchester&params=SD635104_region%3AGB_scale%3A25000

some other links for red moss
Red Moss Links
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/109497
http://www.english-nature.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1006538.pdf
http://www.horwich.gov.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=37&Itemid=32
http://www.blackrod.org.uk/page9.html
http://www.motorwayarchive.ihtservices.co.uk/m61horpre.htm

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/archive/1996/01/26/Lancashire+Archive/6212977.Archaeologists/
http://www.horwichheritage.co.uk/heritagecentre.htm
http://www.bolton.org.uk/middlebrook.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Site_of_Special_Scientific_Interest red moss is a SSSI please be careful !
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildlife_Trust_for_Lancashire,_Manchester_and_North_Merseyside Red Moss is managed by this organisation
Jakes Blogs for red moss

http://jakeofwinterhill.blogspot.com/search/label/red%20moss

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonfly
http://www.british-dragonflies.org.uk/
http://www.bournestreampartnership.org.uk/dragonflies.htm
http://www.uksafari.com/dragonflies.htm

short video -carefully moving along the path we disturbed around 30/40 dragonfly's

Bull Rush
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typha
info taken from site re eating

Typha has a wide variety of parts that are edible to humans. The rhizomes, underground lateral stems, are a pleasant nutritious and energy-rich food source that when processed into flour contains 266 kcal per 100 g.^[2] They are generally harvested from late autumn to early spring. These are starchy, but also fibrous, so the starch must be scraped or sucked from the tough fibers. The bases of the leaves can be eaten raw or cooked, in late spring when they are young and tender.^[4] In early summer the sheath can be removed from the developing green flower spike which can than be boiled and eaten like corn on the cob.^[5] In mid-summer, once the male flowers are mature,^[6] the pollen can be collected and used as a flour supplement or thickener.^[7] Typha has also recently been suggested as a source of oil.^{[clarification needed]} However, the plant's airborne seeds have also been known to create skin irritation and can trigger asthma.

Starch grains have been found on grinding stones widely across Europe from 30,000 BP suggesting that Typha plants were a widely usedUpper Paleolithic food.^[2]

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=bull+rush&hl=en&rlz=1C1AVSW_enGB374GB377&prmd=ivns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=7K49ToTcFJK2hAfRvuSHAg&ved=0CEYQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=666
http://www.truewayssurvival.com/forums/showthread.php?7424-Tips-with-Bull-Rush-and-coastal-cooking
Note from Dad the roots don't taste too bad though it does depend on the state of the bog some just smell so vile that everything smells -clothes require several washes , eating things becomes a mind over matter thing at this stage. the above Bull rush sits next to a old tip , we wouldn't consider eating anything from a SSSI site and or a tip !

Rivington pike

Two lads

one of the dragonflys

Picture from one of the old tramways looking towards Wilderswood/Montcliffe Quarries -we found small bits of coal around this area !

there are three tramways this is the 3rd one

top tramway

can you see me ?
Note from Dad:
Jake has a emergency whistle,phone and torch to maintain contact , Jake is fully aware of his surroundings and the dangers of straying off these central bits, I am never far away and Jake has GPS and RFID tracking on him. this is a lowland area, but has risks even in warm light conditions, Jake has high performance clothing on with Walsh PB trainers for grip with waterproof socks, we use this routes like this for low level training , this route is tough for a 7 year old. having tussock grass needing precise running - deviate or loose your grip and into a deep bog you will go, brambles etc some of the undergrowth is a fight to get through, you have to minimize your impact on this environment , the paths are well used in some areas and other areas are more sensitive so we avoid these .