Photograph of the River Tame near Salford Bridge taken by Phyllis Nicklin in 1968. This photo walk revisited this and several other sites Nicklin photographed in the 60s
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| Ian Stenson |
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Albert Blakeway
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| Jack Harris |
The Tame is flowing from right to left in the foreground, under the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal. The Hockley Brook flows in towards the viewer on the left, but in the modern photographs the view to the brook is blocked by greenery.
In 2014 the area is filled with the hum of traffic from Spaghetti Junction, which is situated, out of view, just behind, but construction began in 1968. Considering that Nicklin took no pictures of the early construction of Spaghetti Junction implies that work had not begun when she wandered the river with her camera.
Most of the industry that Nicklin's image depicts is now gone, replaced by the pale cubes of the industrial estates. And the greenery is a welcome addition; rats can be seen scurrying through the shrubbery, but they attract a buzzard, or other bird of prey, that waits quietly on the grey lip of Spaghetti Junction far above, too far to make its species out clearly.
Cyclists and walkers come up and down from the several ways; Spaghetti is above, but also spaghetti below, with three canals meeting at Salford Junction, one river and one brook, each jutting off in different directions. You can follow any one, and not be sure where you're going to end up.
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| "Witton, GEC Factory (established 1902)" (Nicklin, 1968) |
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| "Witton, GEC Entrance, Electric Avenue, from Dulverton Road" (Nicklin, 1968) |
Revisiting Nicklin, below:
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| Ian Stenson |
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| Si Hope |
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| Jen Dixon |
Tame Valley Canal:
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Top: "Tame Valley Canal, Salford, Birmingham" (Nicklin, 1968).
Bottom: Jack Harris, 2014. |
