Arghi Barghi - Macclesfield

Our first attempt at exploring this location was on a Friday night. After dropping in by the bridge onto a conveniently placed shopping trolley that had been dumped in the river, we continued upstream, pleasantly surprised by the culvert's size.

We heard distant shouting behind us but ignored it, assuming it came from curious, possibly drunk, passers-by wondering why a group of lads were entering the river.

At one point, there was access to a hatch in the ceiling along the culvert, leading to a corridor that connected to the train station. This was previously used by pedestrians to cross beneath the station but was subsequently backfilled and blocked when the Silk Road was built. Access to the hatch has since been sealed.

We made it about halfway before navigating in wellies became too difficult, so we turned back, planning to return with waders to complete it. When we got back to the bridge, we discovered the earlier shouting had actually come from a couple of off-duty police officers curious about our activities.

After a brief chat with the police and a comparison of our torches, we went our separate ways and did, in fact, return multiple times in waders.

History

“The River Bollin in Macclesfield flows under the railway line passing beneath Macclesfield station in a couple of large culverts, the largest a brick and stone arch around 270m long. There's a few small tunnels that used to outfall into here, most likely from the disused mills that still linger in the town but most of them have been sealed”.