The River Medlock flows from Strinesdale Reservoir into a stone cascade, it drops down into a series of three culverts. The first starts as a stone block arch around 7ft tall and travels underneath the water treatment works, an overflow drops in at one point giving a shower to the unwary.
The culvert shrinks to brick around 5ft with a central channel to take the flow, the height decreases further towards the outfall leading to a debris strewn stoop back to daylight.
After a short walk topside the Medlock drops into another culvert beneath the site of the former Orb Mill. Strengthening work has occurred here recently for a new school being built above; a layer of spraycrete covering random bits of stone and in some cases anything else that happened to be in the way.
The best bit is towards the outfall where the tunnel swells to a stone pipe around 12ft tall.
The last stretch takes the infant river under the Majestic Mill, the culvert's namesake. It starts under a bridge and soon meets a small tunnel which brings in a small but overflowing sewer. A few changes of construction and material later and the river emerges a short 110m later.
