A natural methane fire from the Carboniferous coal measures, Gillibrands Farm, Daisyhill, Westhoughton 1975. I went to Westhoughton to interview a Mrs Eatock about her life (North West Sound Archive interview 1980.015) and she went on to tell me the story of the Blazing Brook.

My diary entry reads "There's so much gas under there that it comes up in the brook near Gillibrand's Farm I can remember it sometimes caught fire in the summer" So Mrs Eatock informed me and then offered to take me to see it. .. We found Mr Heys up at the farm in a small field burning rubbish. He was a young farmer, friendly and obviously knew Mrs Eatock well. Then the truth dawned. All the rubbish Mr Heys had put on the fire had been consumed but still the fire some 5-6 feet across continued to burn. As the wind caught it, it roared. Just up the field Mr Heys told me to listen. At his feet was a hole partly filled with water and mud, the methane gas bubbled and hissed through 100s of tiny holes in the mud . The last time I saw the farm, the fire was out and a huge pipe had been installed to vent the methane to air." KH 1976