Mucky Mountains, Sankey Valley Park
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Mucky Mountains, Sankey Valley Park by David Dixon as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
Mucky Mountains, Sankey Valley Park
Image: © David Dixon Taken: 28 Jan 2013
The opening of the Sankey Canal in 1757 was the catalyst for the major industrial development of the area. Mucky Mountains are heaps of chemical waste, the by-product of soda made in the 1830s using the inefficient Leblanc Process http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leblanc_process . Muspratt’s Vitriol Works http://www.n-le-w.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=43&Itemid=27 produced two tons of waste for every ton of soda it made. Large volumes of hydrochloric acid were discharged into the canal and solid wastes were dumped on nearby land forming large mounds. It is reported that conditions in the alkali works (which closed in 1851) were so bad that the escaping gases caused men’s’ teeth to rot and burned their clothes.
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
53.44528
Longitude
-2.639984