This digitally compiled image shows the flat expanse or flood plain of the River Irwell. To the left is the East Lancashire Paper MIll with its metal chimneys in the centre the worked out gravelpits of Radcliffe Ees.

In the last year or so it has been recognised that the whole flat area over to Bury has been at different times a huge glacial lake as the ice melted at the end of the last Ice Age.