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Photos of Wigan
Photos of Wigan



Photo-a-Day Archive
Photo-a-Day Archive

Photo-a-Day  (Thursday, 1st September, 2022)

Man Made


Man Made
This little waterfall on the former opencast site in Whelley was man made during restoration work after the opencast mining finished.
It’s difficult to get to now, but it has blended in very well.
The water is clean water from the settling ponds higher up and eventually runs into the river Douglas.

Photo: Dennis Seddon  (Sony DSC-WX500)
Views: 1,905

Comment by: irene roberts on 1st September 2022 at 09:15

That's a very pretty scene. I can almost hear the sound of the fall of water.

Comment by: WN1 Standisher on 1st September 2022 at 09:37

Nice one that Dennis, I've never been over there. Must put it on my ' to do ' list.

Comment by: Helen of Troy on 1st September 2022 at 09:53

Its a pretty waterfall & good to know that ' man ' can make a nice job of restoring if 'he ' tries.
Would it be water that would have collected & maybe caused problems as in the Aberfan disaster ?

Comment by: Dennis Seddon on 1st September 2022 at 10:42

Helen, there was a stream here before the opencast mining, The water came from the Overflow of the Swan Lodge in the Plantations. After the restoration the water from the Great Haigh Sough was diverted to Settling Ponds a little higher up from here. In these ponds the impurities in the water settle to the bottom and the clean water on top runs off to join the stream. From here, the water runs down another man made waterfall where it joins the former yellow Brook and then runs down to the River Douglas.

Comment by: fred on 1st September 2022 at 13:17

A lovely little waterfall, the Hockery brook in Hindley was cleaned in the same way, the orange water from the Deep Pit, goes through reed beds, and the brook is now clear as a bell.

Comment by: Veronica on 1st September 2022 at 13:17

Nothing as magical as water trickling down ….

Comment by: Helen of Troy on 1st September 2022 at 13:55

Thanks for that info Dennis.
I was thinking of slag heaps, wonder if opencaste mining ceated the heaps, perhaps not.

Comment by: Edna on 1st September 2022 at 18:47

Another lovely photo Dennis, of all our walks in the past. I think we knew every nick and cranny, of the woods and surrounding field's, been past this lots of times.We saw all the open cast mining going on at the time.Special memories.

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