- Eccleston Quarry
Eccleston Quarry is a mile south of
Eccleston, Lancashire . It is also called Eccleston Delph and Eccy Delph (pronounced "ekky"). It is an old stone quarry that flooded. It is a popularscuba diving site.History
Formerly a Mr.Hurst ran it as a stone
quarry and employed 12 men. Stone forBlackpool Promenade came out of it. It was formerly also called Hurst House Delph and Marsden's Quarry.After it was abandoned and allowed to flood by ground-water seeping in, it was an unofficial scuba diving site for a long time. Around 2000 it was pumped dry, and over 250 cars and much rubbish removed from it, and landscaped, and re-flooded, and
scuba diving center buildings built by it.A local resident said that "during
World War II a Ministry paid a local man to run at intervals a pump to keep the quarry empty while its owner and staff were away. After the war due to official reorganization they stopped paying the local man, who therefore stopped running the pump, and over time the quarry flooded."On 14 October 1979 a body was discovered in the quarry by local divers, known as the "Handless Corpse". This led to an international police investigation and the breakup of the "Mr Asia"
narcotics gang. See http://www.thedelph.com/tvnz.html .Facilities
The Delph features a cafe, shop, changing facilites, swimming pool, training room, equipment hire and an air filling station.
Shore Facilities
There are many entry and exit points including shore entry with concrete slipways, sturdy steel deep entry points with fin friendly steps. Most have railings with chain linkages.
Underwater Features
There are many things for divers to explore including speedboats, a jet provost, armoured personnel carriers, a light tank, containers, a concrete tube and a gnome garden and a playground. As well as these there are training platforms at various depths from 3m to 9m. All are marked by surface bouys.
Marine Life
The Delph is well stocked with a large variety of fish including Koi Karp, bags of food can be purchased to feed the fish.
External links
* [http://www.thedelph.co.uk Eccleston Quarry]
* [http://www.thedelph.com/images/mapoint.gifmap]
* [http://www.thedelph.com/images/map1.gifmap]
* [http://www.thedelph.com/images/map2.gifmap]
* [http://www.thedelph.com/history.html history]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
