About Moston Brook
What is the Moston Brook and where are the main areas?
Moston Brook is a 3.7 mile long tributary of the River Irk, located in Greater Manchester in the North West of England. The Brook is formed at the confluence of Bower Brook and Hole Bottom Brook. This occurs near the Rochdale Canal, Failsworth in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham.
Thanks to years of dedication, Moston Brook is now an inviting community space which the Friends of Moston Brook Group proactively encourage others to use. The group work hard to bring the valley to life by holding free local family and age friendly events with a focus on nature & wellbeing.
The source of Moston Brook is now hidden. Its most upstream part is fully obscured in two culverts, the South Culvert and the North Culvert. The South Culvert is what remains of one of the Brook’s upstream tributaries, Bower Brook, which flows from the Werneth area and past a pumping station in South Chadderton.
Another tributary, Hole Bottom Brook, rises in north Hollinwood and runs to the Failsworth boundary near the Rochdale Canal, where a short section is still in daylight. The North Culvert was connected in the 1990s in order to take run-off from a newly constructed part of the M60 motorway. The confluence of Bower Brook and Hole Bottom Brook is considered the start of Moston Brook proper.
The Brook then flows southwest, forming the boundary between the City of Manchester and the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, both of which are metropolitan boroughs of Greater Manchester. It is partly culverted at Broadway Common due to landfilling activities. The Brook flows into Manchester at the southern boundary between Moston and Newton Heath, where it passes into another culvert which takes it underneath Moston Vale. Here it is joined by the Dean Brook, which flows past the site of Moston Hall in Broadhurst Park and is also culverted south of Joyce Street. Up to the early nineteenth century, the section between Failsworth and the Dean Brook was known as Morris Brook. The Brook is briefly visible again in Collyhurst near Manchester Communication Academy, before again entering culverts which take it most of the way to its confluence with the River Irk.
The main part of the Brook that is currently above ground is broken down into the following areas:
Wrigley Head which links to the Rochdale Canal at the Failsworth and New Moston boundary. It has lots of circular short walks and is good for wildlife spotting.
Hardman Fold was once a farm, brickworks and clay-pit, and later a landfill, the area is now meadows, woodland and a waterside walk. Public footpath 79 also runs on the northern (Manchester) side of the valley.
Broadway incorporating Lower Failsworth Memorial Land. This is adjacent to Lower Memorial Park. Part of this land was purchased by public subscription after WW1 as open space for the residents of Failsworth.
Moston Fairway is a Lancashire Wildlife Trust nature reserve. It is a remarkable piece of marsh in an urban area. Heather, orchids and white and yellow sedge grow here, specimens which are rare in the county.