Nob End is the site of a former waste tip which is now a Site of Special Scientific Interest and Local Nature Reserve near

Little Lever Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt * ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...

and

Kearsley Kearsley ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. The population at the 2011 census was 14,212. Historically part of Lancashire, it lies northwest of Manchester, southwest of Bury and south of ...

, in

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

, England.

History

Standing at the confluence of the River Irwell and

River Croal The River Croal is a river located in Greater Manchester, England. It is a tributary of the River Irwell. Rising at the confluence of Middle Brook and Deane Church Brook, it flows eastwards through Bolton, collecting ''Gilnow Brook'' and t ...

the site was used around 1850-70 as a tip for toxic alkaline waste from the production of sodium carbonate (soda ash) by the Leblanc process. The waste, known as ' galligu', was a blue sludge (from reduced iron compounds) dominated by calcium sulphide and smelling of bad eggs. The surface of the waste has since weathered down to calcium carbonate, and calcicolous vegetation has colonised the site. As natural limestone grassland does not occur in Greater Manchester, many of the species found are rare in the county. The 8.8

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...

(21.7 acres)site became a SSSI in 1988, and a Local Nature Reserve in 2000. In 1936 a major breach in the now defunct

Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal The Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal is a disused canal in Greater Manchester, England, built to link Bolton and Bury with Manchester. The canal, when fully opened, was long. It was accessed via a junction with the River Irwell in Salford. ...

occurred east of the Nob End locks; it has never been repaired.

Habitats

There are a number of different habitats on the site, the creation of which were dependent upon: the type of waste deposited, the pattern of deposition and the nature of the underlying substrate: * Open, species rich, calcicolous grassland. * Fescue grassland with

salix Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist s ...

scrub. * Wet areas with rushes,

marsh plant Aquatic plants are plants that have adapted to living in aquatic environments (saltwater or freshwater). They are also referred to as hydrophytes or macrophytes to distinguish them from algae and other microphytes. A macrophyte is a plant that g ...

s and salix scrub *

neutral Neutral or neutrality may refer to: Mathematics and natural science Biology * Neutral organisms, in ecology, those that obey the unified neutral theory of biodiversity Chemistry and physics * Neutralization (chemistry), a chemical reaction in ...

grasslands. * Acid grasslands.

Flora

The flora found on the site includes: many types of

Orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowerin ...

Broomrape ''Orobanche'', commonly known as broomrape, is a genus of over 200 species of small parasitic herbaceous plants, mostly native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. It is the type genus of the broomrape family Orobanchaceae. Description Broom ...

, Twayblade, Blue fleabane and

Carline thistle ''Carlina vulgaris'', the carline thistle, is a plant species of the genus '' Carlina''. It is a biennial that grows on limestone, chalky or other alkaline grasslands or dunes. The flowers are clusters of very small brown florets surrounded by br ...

References

{{coord, 53.553, -2.379, display=title, region:GB_type:landmark Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Greater Manchester Geography of the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton Local Nature Reserves in Greater Manchester

History

Habitats

Flora

See also

References