The Rivers Run Through

"The Rivers Run Through" is an artwork designed by young people working with Stockport Youth Offending Service and local artist Karen Allerton.

Part of a Stockport Art Trail it is a collaboration between Stockport's Youth Offending Service, Public Health and Sustrans.

The mural was installed recently on the wall below the M60 motorway opposite the confluence of the rivers Goyt and Tame to form the Mersey.

It is fixed in front of the wall rather than attached directed to the wall like a conventional mural which may make it less of a target for taggers.

A contribution to Monday Murals and Blue Monday.

Looking down at the M60 & A560

I was standing on the bridge on Wellington Road North looking over on to the roads below.

On the left is the M60 Manchester Orbital Motorway. This section was built in the 1980s as the M63 extension from Cheadle Heath to Portwood. The concrete wall is where the former Cheshire Lines railway through Stockport Tiviot Dale used to run.

On the right is Great Egerton Street, the A560 which was once an important East–West link but with the advent of the M56/M60/M67 it is now reduced to catering for local traffic plus a considerable number of motorway link roads.

The shadow of the fence on Wellington Road North also crosses the roads and on the right is my own shadow looking over making it my camera-shy self portrait which is the theme for April 1st at the City Daily Photoblog Community.

See more contributions at this link.

Richard Street, Portwood

In the background is the M60 motorway and beyond that are the tower blocks on Lancashire Hill.

A contribution to The Weekend in Black and White.

M60 Anti-clockwise

The M60 motorway viewed from the pyramid junction roundabout.

A contribution to Good Fences and Skywatch Friday.

Footpath signs below the motorway

Short and long distance footpaths, including the Fred Perry Way and the Trans Pennine Way, come together in the Knightsbridge area where the river Goyt meets the river Tame to create the river Mersey.

Traffic on the M60 motorway thunders by oblivious of the rivers and walkers below.

A contribution to signs, signs.

The Orange Goyt

On Tuesday morning someone tweeted "Why is the Goyt orange this morning?"

A few hours later I took this photo of the river looking upstream from Howard Street bridge. I haven't discovered the reason for the colouration, but it looks like a seepage of iron-ore into the river.

Downstream of the bridge the Goyt flows over a weir and the river Tame joins it from underneath the M60 motorway to form the river Mersey. Note the darker colour of the emerging, converging Tame.

This is a closer view of the water flower over the weir from the other direction. I'll post some more photographs from this point tomorrow.

A contribution to Orange You Glad It's Friday and Weekend Reflections.

East of Hatton Street

The view from Hatton Street footbridge. The gantry signs partly obscure Lancashire Hill bridge. Above on the left is St Mary's Catholic church on Dodge Hill under which the former Cheshire Lines Committee railway through Tiviotdale ran in a tunnel.

The coloured version can be viewed on Geograph.

A contribution to The Weekend in Black and White, Sunday Bridges at San Francisco Bay Daily Photo and Shadow Shot Sunday.

Bridge Shadows

On Friday I posted a photograph showing the M60 and A560 taken from the Wellington Road North bridge.

This view is looking along the side of the bridge across the eastbound carriageway.

A shadow of the bridge has been cast on to the cliffside. My own shadow can be seen just above what looks like a blocked up doorway. This may be an access point into a one-time air-raid shelter or is possibly connected with the railway line that originally ran alongside the route of the motorway.

A contribution to Shadow Shot Sunday and Sunday Bridges at San Francisco Bay Daily Photo.

The M60 and the A560

Viewed from Wellington Road North.

On the left hand side is the M60 motorway. Now part of the Manchester Orbital Motorway that encircles Manchester, this section was built in the 1980s as the M63 extension from Cheadle Heath to Portwood.

When first built the Cheshire Lines Committee railway line through Tiviot Dale still ran alongside, disappearing into a tunnel under Lancashire Hill at a point roughly where the white van on the left is seen.

On the right hand side is Great Egerton Street which is the A560 road from Bredbury to Gatley. Before the motorway was built this was the main arterial road from Yorkshire to Cheshire.

A contribution to Friday Fences.

The end of the river Tame

This is the view downstream from the last footbridge over the river Tame. It is crossed by a pipework bridge and then flows under the M60 motorway to join the river Goyt and form the river Mersey.

This is the view looking back from under the motorway. The footpath alongside is part of the Trans Pennine Trail.

Before the motorway was built the Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) railway line through Stockport (Tiviot Dale) crossed the river Tame between these two crossing points. Now only the buttresses remain. It has been reported that these precarious perches have been used as sleeping quarters by homeless people.

A contribution to Sunday Bridges at San Francisco Bay Daily Photo.

U is for Underpass

A look through one of the underpasses at Portwood roundabout. Several footpath and cycleways cross under the roads. Between two of them is a "Help point". I'm not sure whether its presence is re-assuring or actually alarming. I certainly wouldn't venture there after dark.

A contribution to ABC Wednesday.

St Mary's Roman Catholic Church

St Mary's Roman Catholic Church on Dodge Hill was designed by Pugin & Pugin,1897 and is a prominent local landmark. It is constructed of red brick with stone dressings and window tracery and a slate roof.

The west front has a tall gabled bellcote on a stepped base beneath which is a statue of the Virgin and Child. Stepped buttresses framing a large rose window are flanked by traceried windows with paired lights.

It is now isolated from the town by the M60 motorway which runs in a cutting below. The large retaining wall above the motorway is often targeted by graffiti artists, but it is regularly removed.

A contribution to Ruby Tuesday and Our World Tuesday.