Hunting Tigers - Part 2
By Mal Firth • Jul 15th, 2008 • Category: Rivington
Today’s little escapade could well have been subtitled “Two and a Half Hours of Soggy Feet”, for that’s what I got rather than a collection of great pictures. You may remember that on my first attempt to find a waterfall in Tiger’s Clough all I got was the sky falling on me in the shape of torrential rain for three hours. Well, a few days after that I went again to Tiger’s Clough with a friend of mine, starting from a small footbridge close to the bottom. We weren’t successful on that occasion either, but we did at least decide that it might be worthwhile to start from the same point another day and traverse upstream alongside (and if need be, in) the stream and so eventually reach the waterfall.
Talking about it is one thing, doing it is something else. Still, nothing ventured nothing gained, so on reaching the footbridge I clambered over the fence and made my way along the narrow path. It quickly became obvious that the clough is very overgrown with trees, shrubs, and lots of thorn bushes. And the path, what there was of it, veered from one bank to the other at frequent intervals, Oh, and then there were the rocks in the stream. As you no doubt can gather, I was in for a fun time.
It seemed the best way forward was to clamber along the bed of the stream and hope I don’t put my feet in too deep. Once again the best laid plans of mice and men fell apart when my foot slipped off a moss covered rock and I found myself almost knee deep in water. If my friend John who came with me on the earlier trip had seen me this time he would probably have wet himself laughing at my antics.
I don’t think my two dogs, Brett and Sam were too impressed either. But they weren’t worrying about getting their feet wet, they were having a great time dropping a ball in the stream, letting it float away then chasing after it. Not conducive to finding waterfalls but funny to watch.
Eventually, after much stumbling about in the stream I came upon what appeared to be the bottom of the waterfall. Unfortunately the way forward was blocked by the rocky sides of the stream covered with overhanging tree branches and roots, plus a few more of those pesky thorns. I didn’t want to go back now after coming this far and at last sighting the waterfall, so I looked around to see if there was a way through.
With a bit of effort I managed to clamber up the rocky face on the left of the stream, but it soon became obvious that the way forward really was blocked. So, somewhat reluctantly, I retreated a little way and looked for a way up the grassy banks that would get me around this point. Much grunting and a few scratches later I had scrambled up above the clough and began searching for a path to follow. Eventually I found my way to a narrow road which I followed uphill, hoping I would then find a way back into the clough and the rest of the waterfall.
At the top of the hill I came upon a stile in the fence at the side of the road so I climbed over and followed the path back down towards the stream. Unfortunately, it seemed that if there was more to the waterfall I had passed it by, the stream once more being back to a fairly level course.
Interestingly, in amongst all the rocks and fallen trees I came across the remains of a wall. Why would anyone want to build a wall down here, was it the remains of a house or the remnants of a long lost industry?
Nearby was a long wooden stairway leading out of the clough and, as there didn’t seem to be any more of the waterfall I could find for the moment I decided it was time to head off home. So, calling Brett and Sam out of the stream for the last time, I walked up the stairway to a path that took me to the road back down to where my car was parked.
Close by where the path brought me out onto the road I saw a small clearing that seemed to be taken over by foxglove plants. A sort of foxglove haven you might say.
Just to make sure he didn’t miss out from having his picture taken, Sam decided to pose amongst the foxgloves.
Well, this time I did at least manage to see what looked like the beginnings of a waterfall. Maybe one day soon I’ll get to see the rest of it.
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I copied this from the ‘Winter Hill Scrapbook’, Google it, it’s well worth downloading.
I’m sure you’ll find it interesting.
Tigers Clough.
Tigers Clough, or Shaw’s Clough as it is usually marked on Ordnance
Survey Maps is the wooded valley of the River Douglas which lies a few
hundred yards to the north-east of Rivington School. Although today the
clough is an oasis of peace, it was not quite so peaceful over a hundred
years ago.
The clough at that time housed a bleachworks, a drinking establishment
and with a brick and pipe works nearby along with a coal mine just higher
up the hill. The clough can be best accessed by going up the road to the
east of the school to the road junction. Take the concrete road going
uphill and opposite the quarry go down the path to the river.
The bleachworks mentioned above, was known as Knoll Bleachworks
and lay on both sides of the river, where some of the remains can still be
seen. It was owned by a Thomas Kay and documents indicate that it was
used for “rag bleaching”. I have no idea what it means, but the works
once contained one of the countries first “callenders” which I’m told is
some sort of machine that was used to finish off the cloth by putting a
glaze onto its surface.
Many thanks for the information Eric, now I know a little more about that mysterious wall in Tiger’s Clough. Finding the rest of the waterfall is still on my list of things to do as well.
A calender is like a mangle on an old washing machine - two heavy rolls pressing together - the fabirc or paper passes between them (through the “nip”) and gets reduced in thickness and a surface finish. You can control it by the amount of pressing, temperature and moisture. Modern calenders may have multiple rolls and nips.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calendering
“Rag” is the term normally used for used textiles - what the “rag and bone man” used to collect. Used to be pulled apart and recycled into new fabric; don’t think it’s used much in this country now but presumably with the urge to recycle we might soon see Steptoe back on the streets!
Thanks Andrew, between you and EricH you’ve added quite a bit of interesting information.