
The Sutton Brook in Sutton, St.Helens
A Sutton artery that connects with the St.Helens Canal
Sutton Brook Photo-Album | Slideshow VersionTHE SUTTON BROOK flows throughout Sutton and ultimately into the St.Helens / Sankey Canal. The brook has been in existence for hundreds of years and has attained notoriety on many occasions. During the nineteenth century, it was colloquially referred to as the Stygian brook (i.e. dark and dismal) and in more recent times it was known to St.Helens folk as 'Stinky' brook. For many years the brook was the dumping ground for much industrial and chemical waste which gave rise to the odour.

The Sutton Brook Greenway sign in Watery Lane, photographed in September 2008.
Like most other waterways in St.Helens, Sutton Brook during the nineteenth century acted as a sewer. Bernard Dromgoole of the St.Helens Newspaper complained in his editorials of the brooks which:

The Sutton Brook about to pass under Clock Face Road photographed in March 2006
The upper reaches of Sutton Brook are known as Pendlebury Brook which flows under Prescot, Whiston and Rainhill and enters Sutton under a bridge at Walkers Lane. It then traverses Sutton Manor park (aka King George V playing fields) and flows across Brickfields, adjacent to the former Ibstock Brickworks.

The stream continues its journey under the Liverpool to Manchester railway line and into the former Whalley's Dam, which was also known as Glass House Dam. It used to be quite deep here but is now just a shallow, running brook. From here it flows under Victoria Bridge in Gerards Lane into the Monastery Dam, previously known as Waterdale Dam and sometimes called St.Anne's reservoir.
Much of the land and streams between the Mill Dam and Monastery Dam were originally bought by the London and Manchester Plate Glass Company to supply their Sutton Glass Works with a regular supply of water. Alternatively, it was farmed by the Whalley family. Frank Bamber in his memoirs described it as "a beautiful hillside of farmland and wild life". This has largely been replaced by the former Beth Avenue estate, now Ridgewood Drive.
The stream then flows under Robins Lane and Ellamsbridge Road and then along Worsley Brow, by the side of the former Sutton National School. At this point it used to be referred to as the 'School Brook', however its route has changed over the years. The brook used to leave the bridge in Ellamsbridge Road, hug the road and bend round to Watery Lane. However, work by the water board to alleviate endemic flooding has led to the brook being straightened and deepened.
The present-day direct route from Ellamsbridge means it traverses under Watery Lane to behind Berrys Lane. It turns from flowing north to flowing east before turning north again in the area of Jackson Street and Parr Industrial Estate, where it is joined by the Hardshaw Brook.
At the point where the Hardshaw Brook joins the Sutton Brook, the water becomes the Sankey Brook. As it flows through Parr and Broad Oak, it's joined by the Rainford Brook and the Black Brook. This area is known as the Sankey Valley and the water flows via the Sankey Canal through Earlestown, Newton, Winwick, Penketh and Great Sankey.

Header picture: Sutton Brook in February 2007 as it approaches Mill Lane by the Wheatsheaf
Sutton Brook Photo-Album
Slideshow Version | Research Sources

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