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Its been a rather long time coming. Ive sat at my computer trawling through report after report of people visiting the Arches. Saying to myself, right i'm going this week. Well fast forward to today and a good seven months had passed. Thanks to Userscott and Snappel, the Manchester draining scene was exploding again with new drains being found holding features that even Indiana Jones would tip his hat too.
So we made plans to visit the newest discovery "Hulme Flume" and as we were there we might as well do the Cathedral steps as well. Since the purple beast had recently gone through a service it no longer shook like a old mans hand when you reached speeds of 50+. With that in mind we made steady progress through the night arriving in Manchester in the early am. I had heard that the entrance to the steps was, well comical and sketchy as hell at the same time. And sure enough it was. Major cliffhanger and pigeon ninja skills were needed, but we soon found ourselves standing inside. Only took 7 months to get in.
The Steps are a series of Archs, passageways and vaults that were once used as landing station for boats on the nearby river although any sign of the old wooden jetty's now lay only in photographs as they had all rotted away and fallen to their watery graves. During the war the arches were converted into several air raid shelters with many of the doors, signs and warning notices still in place. Sadly there is now less of these then before due to "explorers" who felt the need to take them. We spent a good hour or so just walking around the winding and maze like passageways taking in the sights and getting a general idea on what it must have been like in its day. Then it was time for the cameras. For such a large site most of it was really un-photogenic but a few bits were still fun to shoot, such as the main corridor's and especially the old toilets (looks better then it sounds).
By the time we were finished the sun was gleaming through the vents and we decided it was time to leave unnoticed. A top site i just hope that it stays that way. But once an easier access is found. Wannabe explorers, chavs and scum will destroy the rest of it. My advice. Don't leave a site like this for 7 months, see it as soon as you know about it!.
Cane hill, easily without question the best asylum that england has to offer. Its characters and status isn't matched by anything else, in fact nothing even comes close. For several years time stood still in Cane Hill. While redevelopment plans were considered and rejected several times due to cost recently they were finally accepted. Whats to be saved?, the admin building, chapel and the water tower.
That in itself is shocking if you think of the size of the site. While other less impressive asylums have more saved and converted, why is it this one only has the bare minimum?, and only because the buildings are listed at that. I'm sure the contractors wouldn't shed a tear at demolishing it all.
Since the clock of Cane Hills life had been wound up again and was now ticking down, several explorers felt it was a good time to pay homage to a place that has greeted 100's of like minded people.
We have been sitting on this one for a while now, but due to a lack of transport we've never been able to get there. Well today was finally the day. Aided by the purple micra beast, myself Dsankt and Loops headed north in search of the Ramsey Culvert. Its most predominant feature, A triple tunneled chamber which also housed the device that once powered the clock sitting on the street above. Sadly due to the continual decrease in water flow the device became useless and places with a electrical power source.
Before the Fens were drained Ramsey was an island, isolated and safe, ideal for the world famous abbey and center for education that was once here. In the 1850s when the London, Kings Cross to Edinburgh railway was built Holme Fen was drained, this resulted in the drop of water in Ramsey and so the 'Arches' were built. The work started in 1852 and was finished in 1854.
During the construction problems were found with water flow during the winter of 1852. From the Clock Tower onwards it was decided to continue with three culverts, the main culvert being assisted with two side culverts. The side culverts also took sewage.
Access was comical, almost crashing a bikers wedding to take a sneak peek at the infall and being invited for a roast dinner afterwards was just a small piece of the pie that was Ramsey. While its not the longest of culverts in the world, Time Machine starts as a fairly large, yellow brick tunnel before entering the main clock chamber and splitting into three pipes, with two minimal flow sewers feeding in from the north.
We decided to venture down to the outfall which exited into a canal to the north of the town. After a bit of talking with the "locals" you seemed very interested in Dsankt's tales of "Huge eels" we headed back up the smaller pipe to see if there were any branches off. Well there wasn't and after a little accident with loops and his phone we were back in the clock chamber. We took a few pictures, using the wonders that is the mini fluro before heading back topside.
