Lily Lanes

This week's Sky Watch is looking down Lily Lanes towards Lees Road and Hartshead Estate. As the sun disappears behind a hazy horizon, the colours of the sky and the land merge together.

Pike View can be seen on the left of the land and the tall buildings in central Manchester can be made out to the left of and behind the tree.

The Google Street View car didn't quite make it up this bumpy section of Lily Lanes but you can see this Street View from just a little way down the hill, near Pike View.

Sky Watch is a regular weekly feature on this photo blog. It links with websites all over the world with the general theme each week of looking upwards. Please take the opportunity to visit some of these other sites. I hope some new visitors have found their way here today, watching the skies!

Hartshead Inn

Today's Sky Watch image shows the Hartshead Inn, situated off Mossley Road in Ashton, with Hartshead Pike on the skyline in the background. The pointed tower which sits atop the pike is echoed by the picture on the pub sign. The tower and the chimney both draw the eye to the cloudscape above.

For most of its life the building was known as Tongue Bottom Farm and this name is inscribed on the stone mill wheel seen below the sign. The original Hartshead Inn, on Lees Road, was always known as The Red House and changed its name to just that. Tongue Bottom Farm was converted into a pub with large dining areas and it is a popular place for Ashtonians to drive up to for a meal.

(Click photo for larger version. Press Back button to return here.)

See Google Street View of this location.

Sky Watch is a regular weekly feature on this photo blog. It links with websites all over the world with the general theme each week of looking upwards. Please take the opportunity to visit some of these other sites. I hope some new visitors have found their way here today, watching the skies!

Snow on Lily Lanes

This week's Sky Watch image shows the snow at Lily Lanes, the popular walking route to Hartshead Pike and Broadcarr.

See Birds Eye View of this location.

A  Merry   Christmas  to all followers of this blog! Thank you for visiting.

Sky Watch is a regular weekly feature on this photo blog. It links with websites all over the world with the general theme each week of looking upwards. Please take the opportunity to visit some of these other sites. I hope some new visitors have found their way here today, watching the skies!

Sky Watch - Sky Walkers

What better time of day for a walk along the ridge at Hartshead Pike than when there's a glorious sunset to see?

If you think the two walkers silhouetted against the sky look familiar, they are the same two who appeared here a few weeks ago. This photo was taken shortly after that one, the pair having walked a little further along the skyline. I thought it was worth sharing both images with you!

Sky Watch is the regular Friday feature on this photo blog. It will link with websites all over the world with the general theme each week of looking upwards. Please take the opportunity to visit some of these other sites. I hope some new visitors have found their way here today, watching the skies!

Sunday Stroll: Lily Lanes

Today's photo shows Lily Lanes at Hartshead, one of the popular routes up to Hartshead Pike, as it passes Lane End Farm.

The road becomes unsuitable for most motor vehicles beyond this point, although I drove an old car of mine all the way up many years ago!

The last time we took a stroll up Lily Lanes there was a coating of snow!

I don't know whether anyone can offer an explanation as to why, like Knott Lanes in Bardsley, Lily Lanes has a plural name? A local oddity, perhaps?

See Google Aerial View of this location.
See LiveSearch Birds Eye View of this location.

Sky Watch: I see the Moon

I see the moon and the moon sees me... or rather it sees the tower on Hartshead Pike!

This photo was taken a few minutes after last week's Sky Watch photo showing the sunset over Oldham.

Sky Watch is the regular Friday feature on this photo blog. It will link with websites all over the world with the general theme each week of looking upwards. Please take the opportunity to visit some of these other sites. I hope some new visitors have found their way here today, watching the skies!

Sky Watch: Sunset over Oldham

Another sunset to add to the collection. Today's Sky Watch is a view from Hartshead Pike towards the sun setting over distant Winter Hill. The buildings appearing in silhouette are in the centre of Oldham, Ashton's hill-top neighbour to the north.

Sky Watch is the regular Friday feature on this photo blog. It will link with websites all over the world with the general theme each week of looking upwards. Please take the opportunity to visit some of these other sites. I hope some new visitors have found their way here today, watching the skies!

Sky Watch: This Way to the Pike

Hartshead Pike is always a good subject for Sky Watch photos, as it necessitates pointing the camera skyward. Also, of course, the shape of the tower makes for an interesting interaction with the shapes of the clouds.

This view, from Broadcarr, includes the footpath sign that indicates one of the routes the walker can take to the tower on the summit of the pike.

See Google Aerial View of this location.
See LiveSearch Birds Eye View of this location.

Sky Watch is the regular Friday feature on this photo blog. It will link with websites all over the world with the general theme each week of looking upwards. Please take the opportunity to visit some of these other sites. I hope some new visitors have found their way here today, watching the skies!

Sky Watch: Hartshead Pike

This week's Sky Watch sees a return to the magnetic location of Hartshead Pike. As the tower that stands on the summit of the pike points so dramatically skyward, it is inevitable that photographs taken here are going to feature plenty of sky!

There is something about this hilltop location that gives it qualities of light that don't seem to be present down in the town, as can be seen from several of the previous photos that have appeared here.

What would have been a dramatic evening sky is made even more striking by the addition in this photo of the stark silhouette of the tower.

Sky Watch is the new Friday feature on this photo blog. It will link with websites all over the world with the general theme each week of looking upwards. Please take the opportunity to visit some of these other sites. I hope some new visitors have found their way here today, watching the skies!

See Google Aerial View of this location.
See LiveSearch Birds Eye View of this location.

Sky Watch: Millstones

The site of the original tower on top of the hill called Hartshead Pike is now marked by these millstones placed on top of each other. They make a mysterious outline against the evening sky.

The sun glints on Audenshaw Reservoirs in the distance, with the shapes of buildings in Ashton visible a little nearer. Further to the right, at the foot of the hill, it is just possible to make out St Damian's Catholic high school.

See Google Aerial View of this location.
See LiveSearch Birds Eye View of this location.

Sky Watch is the regular Friday feature on this photo blog. It links with websites all over the world with the general theme each week of looking upwards. Please take the opportunity to visit some of these other sites. I hope some new visitors have found their way here today, watching the skies!

Sunday Stroll: Lily Lanes

After a week of wintry weather, what better than a snowy stroll in the sunshine?

This photo looks along Lily Lanes from the direction of Broadcarr. This part of the lane is round the back of Hartshead Pike, which is out of sight on the hill to the right.

See Google Aerial View of this location.

Sky Watch: Broadcarr

Today's contribution to the Sky Watch theme is looking down across the small hamlet of Broadcarr from Brown Edge, between Ashton and Mossley.

Dominating the view is Hartshead Pike with its pointed tower drawing the eye like a magnet. To the left, in the distance, part of Ashton can be seen, with a wisp of smoke emerging from the boiler house chimney at Tameside Hospital. Hartshead Pike featured in last week's Sky Watch.

Sky Watch is the new Friday feature on this photo blog. It will link with websites all over the world with the general theme each week of looking upwards. Please take the opportunity to visit some of these other sites. I hope some new visitors have found their way here today, watching the skies!

See Google Aerial View of this location.

Sunday Stroll: Knott Hill Reservoir

Another popular short walk near Ashton is to Knott Hill Reservoir, in the valley between Hartshead and Hazelhurst.

The reservoir was built shortly after 1835 to replace the earlier and smaller Tongue Bottom (Tombottom) reservoir a short distance higher up the valley, behind the present Hartshead Inn.

Knott Hill Reservoir is no longer used and its water level was dropped to the present level when the dam embankment showed signs of instability. The photo was taken from the path that ran around the original waterline of the reservoir, which can also be seen on the opposite side and gives a good idea of how deep the reservoir was when it was in use.

Today it is managed by Tameside Countryside Service as a nature reserve and the path around the outside is a popular walking route. Hartshead Pike is seen on the hill in the background, enticing the more energetic walker!

See Google Aerial View of this location.

Sky Watch: Hartshead Pike

Hartshead Pike, on the ridge between Ashton under Lyne and Mossley, is a good place to see dramatic skyscapes and eerie lighting conditions. Today's photo shows dramatic clouds rather than actual sky, but this is England's Pennines, after all.

The Hartshead Pike tag at the end of the post will take you to other views of the hill in other lighting conditions.

Sky Watch is the new Friday feature on this photo blog. It will link with websites all over the world with the general theme each week of looking upwards. Please take the opportunity to visit some of these other sites. I hope some new visitors have found their way here today, watching the skies!

See Google Aerial View of this location.

Now, where did I leave my lunch?

"Gee - I'm sure there was plenty of grass here yesterday. I can't think where it's all gone."

It's a tough life on the the slopes of Hartshead Pike, even in Wednesday's bright sunshine. It will be even tougher on Thursday morning as a lot of snow is forecast overnight!

[Update: The forecasters got it a bit wrong and there was no new blanket of snow this morning, just a bit of rain!]

Yesterday's Snow

After the snow, the sunshine. Hartshead Pike, on the ridge overlooking Ashton and Oldham, looks good in all sorts of weather conditions, but I think it looks magical when there is snow about!

There has been a bit of a thaw, so that some of the grass is now visible, but much of the snow is still lying. Down in Ashton a lot of the snow had disappeared although compressed icy snow was making walking hazardous on some pavements.

A big fall of snow is forecast in the area for between 2.00 am and 6.00 am on Thursday morning, so be prepared!

See Google Aerial View of this location.

Hartshead Hall

Hartshead Hall is the name now now given to the former chapel of St Augustine, situated on Lily Lanes in the hamlet of Harthead.

This Grade Two Listed Building was built in 1886 but in 1989 was converted into a spacious home, retaining many of the building's features.

This former chapel is opposite Jeremy's Cottage which featured here in August.

See Google Aerial View of this location.

Lily Lanes

Looking down Lily Lanes, Hartshead, on the fringe of Ashton, from close to where last Friday's photo of Jeremy's Cottage was taken.

In the distance, the view is across the fields around Rocher Vale and Park Bridge towards Hathershaw in Oldham.

Alphabet Friday - Jeremy's Cottage

J is for "Jeremy's Cottage", which was actually a 17th century farm house.

This Grade II listed building is on Lily Lanes and is part of the cluster of buildings that formed the hamlet of Hartshead, one of the more rural areas of Ashton. It is opposite the former St Augustine's Chapel and enjoys long range views across Manchester and Cheshire.

Hartshead Pike again

Another dramatic image of Hartshead Pike on Monday evening. A cyclist has propped up his bike against the protective cage of a floodlight while he sits and enjoys the view.