Now, I guess most people know that Sale Water Park was created in 1979, runs through Mersey Valley between Sale and Stretford and has that 52-acre artificial lake.
And if you have to have a motorway on your doorstep, turning the huge gravel pit created to provide material for that motorway into a gigantic pond is an imaginative trade off.
In places the lake is 90 feet deep, provides opportunities for a variety of water sports, and is a wonderful place to observe all sorts of wildlife.
Our neighbours, Mike and Helen, regularly walk the water and photograph the herons and swans that inhabit the area.
We had been talking recently about their walks and Mike promised to share some of his pictures including these of a heron. “The two herons are the same bird, in the second shot it has just caught a fish and is about to fly off with a mate.”
I can’t say I was aware of just how rich the area is in wildlife, and nor did I know the role the waterpark plays in our flood prevention schemes.
So, when the level of the Mersey becomes dangerous, excess water can be released on to the surrounding land. Similar flood prevention schemes are in place at Chorlton Water Park and in Didsbury.
All of which is very different from when the Mersey would breach its banks and create huge lakes on both sides of the river.
Such floods could be swift and there was often little warning, one of which was so sudden that a farmer just had time to release his horse before seeking refuge in a tree.
The Chorlton historian Thomas Elwood recorded a series of floods during the 1880s.
The first was on December 23rd, 1880, "when the bank beside Barlow Hall was washed away to a length of nearly 100 yards, followed by another on the 29th, when both streams overflowed their banks.
The next came on February 8th, 1881 when the repairs to the bank were almost completed, but so great was the volume of water coming down the river that the bank again gave way in the same place, and two streams overflowing their banks presented the appearance of one vast and extensive lake”.*
Further floods followed on March 7th and 9th which left a pile of earth from the broken bank on the meadow land to a depth varying from 11 to 3 feet, which eight months later had yet to be cleared.
And a final flood occurred on October 14th “when the brook bank gave way on the village side and the old wooden bridge across the river at Jackson’s Boat was washed away by the swollen stream”.
And so powerful was an earlier water surge, that it destroyed the newly built weir, constructed to protect the viaduct carrying the Duke’s Canal at Stretford.
All of which is in direct contrast to the scene today.
Location; Sale Water Park
Pictures; Sale Water Park, 2020, from the collection of Michael and Helen Kilduff, Higginbotham’s field in flood, J Montgomery 1963, painted from a photograph dated 1946, m800092, Courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass and the last time the weir overflowed, 1915 from the Lloyd collection
*Ellwood, Thomas, History of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, chapter 1, South Manchester Gazette, November 7th, 1885
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| A heron by the water, 2020 |
In places the lake is 90 feet deep, provides opportunities for a variety of water sports, and is a wonderful place to observe all sorts of wildlife.
Our neighbours, Mike and Helen, regularly walk the water and photograph the herons and swans that inhabit the area.
We had been talking recently about their walks and Mike promised to share some of his pictures including these of a heron. “The two herons are the same bird, in the second shot it has just caught a fish and is about to fly off with a mate.”
 |
| The heron ready to fly, 2020 |
So, when the level of the Mersey becomes dangerous, excess water can be released on to the surrounding land. Similar flood prevention schemes are in place at Chorlton Water Park and in Didsbury.
All of which is very different from when the Mersey would breach its banks and create huge lakes on both sides of the river.
 |
| The flood lake, 1963, from a photograph dated 1946 |
The Chorlton historian Thomas Elwood recorded a series of floods during the 1880s.
The first was on December 23rd, 1880, "when the bank beside Barlow Hall was washed away to a length of nearly 100 yards, followed by another on the 29th, when both streams overflowed their banks.
 |
| The last time the weir was over topped, 1915 |
Further floods followed on March 7th and 9th which left a pile of earth from the broken bank on the meadow land to a depth varying from 11 to 3 feet, which eight months later had yet to be cleared.
And a final flood occurred on October 14th “when the brook bank gave way on the village side and the old wooden bridge across the river at Jackson’s Boat was washed away by the swollen stream”.
 |
| A more peacful scene, 2020 |
All of which is in direct contrast to the scene today.
Location; Sale Water Park
Pictures; Sale Water Park, 2020, from the collection of Michael and Helen Kilduff, Higginbotham’s field in flood, J Montgomery 1963, painted from a photograph dated 1946, m800092, Courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass and the last time the weir overflowed, 1915 from the Lloyd collection
*Ellwood, Thomas, History of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, chapter 1, South Manchester Gazette, November 7th, 1885
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