Going places

This week's Sky Watch simply shows what you might see unexpectedly when casting your eyes upwards. It is not unusual to see a vapour trail (or "contrail") as an airliner passes high overhead. It was rather surprising to see three in what appeared to be close proximity.

Of course, even though it looked as if these planes were close together, there would have been differences of thousands of feet vertically between them.

Planes fly fairly low across Ashton on their way to land at Manchester Airport. However, Ashton is also under several of the higher level air corridors. The plane to the right has most probably come from London and is heading towards North America over part of the Arctic. The two heading in the same direction may be heading for somewhere like Schiphol or Frankfurt.

A useful website which will show you where the planes you can see have come from and where they are going is flightradar24.com. When you look up and see planes flying in all directions, it is sometimes interesting to give a thought to the places where all those travellers are going!

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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!

Ashton Market Again

This week's Sky Watch shows another view of Ashton's open market. It was taken a little earlier in November, before the trees shook off the last of their leaves.

In the background, the Town Hall can be seen. To the left of that is part of the Tameside Council offices which are apparently doomed to disappear.

The thinning trees, along with the empty hanging-basket frames on the lamp post, frame the pleasant autumn sky.

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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!

Albion Church

This week's Sky Watch shows Albion Church on Stamford Street East.

Ashton was a hotbed of non-conformist and independent worship in the 18th and 19th centuries, with a wide variety of churches attracting congregations. Albion United Reform Church opened in 1895 as a Congregationalist church, but it had its origins in a room in a house as early as 1780. A Refuge Chapel was opened on Penny Meadow in 1817, enlarged and rebuilt as Albion Chapel in 1834. When the present magnificent building was constructed, the congregation insisted that it be called a church rather than a chapel, as they refused to think of themselves as in any way inferior to their Anglican neighbours. This spirit of rivalry resulted in the spire being built two feet taller than the tower of the Parish Church!

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!

St James' Church

This week's Sky Watch shows St James' Church on Cowhill Lane, which punctuates the sky with its twin spires.

The church of St James the Apostle, opened in 1865. The land was given by the Earl of Stamford and most of the £3,500 cost of building was met bt mill owner Oldham Whittaker.

There is a plaque commemorating John Bradford of Manchester, a Christian martyr burnt at the stake in 1555.

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!

Hartshead Pike

This week's Sky Watch is a return visit to Hartshead Pike. This pointed tower is situated on the prominent hill called Hartshead Pike about 3 miles north-east of the centre of Ashton and is one of my favourite places to photograph. As we saw a couple of weeks ago, it is not the highest hill in the area but its prominent position means it can be seen from many places. In turn this means that the Pike is a splendid viewpoint. It is also a fabulous place to come and watch the sun setting.

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!

Roughtown

This week's Sky Watch shows you a view along the Tame Valley towards the part of Mossley called Roughtown.

The view is from Mossley Hall, formerly a mill owner's house then later the local town hall. St John's Church, Roughtown, dominates the skyline with it steeple. To the right of that is the hill Wharmton, with a television mast on its summit.

In the middle distance the Manchester to Huddersfield railway line and the A635 road curve around the side of the valley. On the left is the former gatehouse to Mossley Hall and, behind it, the tower on the former Wesleyan Sunday School. This dramatic view is only 4 miles from the centre of Ashton.

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!

Looking down on Hartshead Pike

This week's Sky Watch shows you an unusual view of Hartshead Pike - looking down on it from higher ground!

This blog has shown many photographs of the iconic tower on top of the hill known as Hartshead Pike. Half a mile east of the pike is Brown Edge, overlooking Mossley. This is not as prominent as Hartshead Pike, but is higher. The summit is marked by an Ordnance Survey trig point, seen here a few weeks ago. Today's photo is the view looking from that trig point down towards Hartshead Pike, with Ashton down to the left of it and Audenshaw Reservoirs visible behind it. If you click the image to see the larger version, you may just be able to make out a small and indistinct shape which is Joddrell Bank radio telescope, on the horizon between the trig point and Hartshead Pike. On the extreme left of the photo you can just see Alderley Edge on the horizon.

The photo features two objects pointing skywards. If Father Ted was here, he might point out that this one is small and that one is far away...

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!

High Point

This week's Sky Watch takes you to one of the high points around Ashton - the summit of Brown Edge, which overlooks Mossley.

This is the highest point on the ridge between Ashton and Mossley and the concrete object is a triangulation pillar, or "trig point" which was used in the making of maps until the recent arrival of satellite technology. It is a good spot to come to be closer to the sky!

The view is looking south-eastwards, right over Mossley to the Pennine outposts of Noonsun Hill, Alphin Pike and Buckton Moor. Out of sight to the right is a view past hartshead Pike over Ashton towards Manchester. Behind the photographer the view is towards Oldham.

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!

The Other Trafalgar Square

This week's Sky Watch shows you the other Trafalgar Square - not the famous one in London, but the one here in Ashton under Lyne's very own West End.

Ashton's Trafalgar Square doesn't have a column with a statue of Nelson, but it does boast a statue of local Victorian mill-owner and social reformer Hugh Mason, who is seen here standing out against a warm and summery sky.

Hugh Mason is looking across towards the elegant terrace of twelve Victorian houses known as the "Twelve Apostles", which he had built for those of his workers who had large families.

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!

Blue Sky Over Ashton Market!

This week's Sky Watch shows something that has not been too common this summer - a blue sky over Ashton Market!

We had plenty of hot weather (some of it very hot and sunny ) earlier in the year, but now that it is supposed to be sunny, the weather has turned changeable, with sun one minute and showers of rain the next.

Behind the tree the tower of the Market Hall points skyward, flanked by the new roof ridges of the Market Hall, re-built after being destroyed by fire in 2004.

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!

Lift Bridge

This week's Sky Watch shows the lift bridge at the new Frenches Marina in Greenfield, around 6 miles from Ashton.

The bridge, which carries the canal towpath, lifts up to allow boats to move between the marina and the Huddersfield Canal. The Structure of the bridge, along with the retro lamp post, make interesting shapes against the sky, set above the outline of Alphin Pike and Noon Sun Hill in the background.

Behind the marina are Greenfield's new Tesco store on the left and the Kingfisher pub on the right. This photo continues the canal theme from Monday!

See Aerial 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!

Cross over Mossley

This week's Sky Watch features the big cross on the hill overlooking Mossley. It doesn't look very big in the picture, but it is when you get up close to it! Mossley is the town on the left, below the hill. Ashton is out of shot to the right, a little further away.

The cross was erected in 1994 by Mossley Churches Together, and it can be seen on the skyline from many parts of the town.

It is not to be confused with Mossley Cross, which is where the Turnpike road crossed the ancient hilltop highway, and is in the dip behind the white buildings, just to the right of the cross.

See the Ordnance Survey map of this location. (The cross is just above the "r" in "Brook Bottom".)

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!


Note: Sorry to anybody who tried to access this blog in the last few days and found that they were being re-directed to another site. This was not anything to do with me. One of the third-party widgets on the left had been hacked. It has now been removed.
If anyone else is having the same problem with their blog, it was the "Recent Comments" widget. You need to disable javascript before going to to your blog in order to remove the widget from your template. (Disabling javascript stops you being re-directed.) When you are on the template section you will need to enable javascript again in order to save your changes.

In the Spotlight

This week's Sky Watch is an unusual look across the Tame Valley in Mossley.

Although the sky was thickly clouded and the evening was drawing in, somewhere out of sight over the hill behind me the sun must have been poking through a hole in the clouds. The result was an eerie-looking scene in which just the Micklehurst area of the town was in this spooky spotlight of strong sunshine.

There has been absolutely no touching-up of this photo. Apart from trimming the edges off a bit and re-sizing it, this was just as it came from the camera! Although the photo captues the moment partly, it can't covey the weirdness of seeing such an unusual lighting condition.

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!

Roaches

This week's Sky Watch is a sunset view at Roaches in Mossley.

The view is looking across the Huddersfield Narrow Canal close to Roaches Lock. The steeple of St John's Church, in the Roughtown area of Mossley, can be seen on the hillside on the right. The photo was taken from a footpath that runs through the woods on the opposite side of the canal from the towpath, which gives some interesting views of the canal through the trees.

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!

Colourful Cloudscape

This week's Sky Watch is looking across the Tame Valley in Mossley, just over the hill from Ashton.

I was fascinated by the colours that the clouds above the moors were taking on a few days ago, and was pleased to be able to capture something of it with my camera. This view is looking eastwards so the clouds are reflecting the glow from the sun setting in the west, out of sight because of the hill behind me.

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!

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 Pike

This week's Sky Watch features another visit to Hartshead Pike, the hilltop location just within Ashton's eastern boundary.

As the sun set over a hazy horizon, the massive outline of the tower contrasts with the darkening wintry sky behind.

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Please leave a comment below and please rate this photo using the 5 star system below. The highest-ranking photos will be considered for the Photo of the Year at the end of 2012!

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!

Big Skies Over Water

The Ashton Canal is always an interesting subject, with moods changing to match the changing weather. Today's photo shows the big and bright skies of a cold January afternoon over the urban waterscape of Portland Basin in Ashton.

Had I braved the cold weather and gone out today to photograph this scene, the water would have been iced over! As it is, a slight wind is ruffling the reflections of the sky and the buildings on the water.

For more reflections from around the world, visit Weekend Reflections.

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Please leave a comment below and please rate this photo using the 5 star system below. The highest-ranking photos will be considered for the Photo of the Year at the end of 2012!

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!

Hello, I'm on the Skyline...

Hello dear. I'm on the skyline! No, the skyline. You know - the horizon.

Yes, I'm just taking the dog for a walk up near Hartshead Pike. Would you believe it - there's some bloke crouched down in the grass over there taking a photo of me. Or maybe he's trying to photograph the sunset. I'd better get out of his way, otherwise I might spoil his photo by making an interesting silhouette against the colourful sky.

Okay dear, I'll be back home in about ten minutes....

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Please leave a comment below and please rate this photo using the 5 star system below. The highest-ranking photos will be considered for the Photo of the Year at the end of 2012!

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!

Mill Chimney

You can't help but look up towards the sky as you pass the subject of today's Sky Watch image, the Junction Mill Chimney in Ashton.

Junction Mill itself has now gone and has been replaced with blocks of apartments overlooking the canal. However, the unusual octagonal chimney has been retained as a reminder of Ashton's industrial past.

The chimney is 210 feet high and was built in 1867. Instead of being round in profile, it has eight flat sides and is topped with a crenellated crown.

This photo was taken from the same spot as this photo of the Ashton Canal which appeared here a couple of days ago, but looking in the opposite direction.

See Bird's Eye View of this location.

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Please leave a comment below and please rate this photo using the 5 star system below.

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!