The 'scary' steps to Manchester's 'Impossible Bridge' with incredible views over the city

'Barney's Steps' are among the last relics of a dark, crowded valley where the Victorian poor eked out an existence.

They are a feature of 'old Collyhurst' that caught the imagination of L.S. Lowry, which he immortalised in his 1938 painting 'A footbridge'. And, while it's by Lowry's name the footbridge is perhaps most commonly known - as 'Lowry's Footbridge' - it has another name.

Try MEN Premium for FREE by clicking here for no ads, fun puzzles and brilliant new features.

Known colloquially as the 'Impossible Bridge', it spans the River Irk and across long disused railway lines. Once part of the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway, it was built in the 1890s to lift people from Collyhurst Road over to Cheetham Hill.

The name Barney's Steps - for the precarious stairs leading up to the now disused footbridge - dates back to the time when the area around it was known as 'Barney's Tip' after it became a council dump.

One particularly striking photograph, of Barney's Tip, taken in 1960, clearly shows the steps leading up to the footbridge and can be found in the Manchester Libraries archive. Like Lowry, its photographer must have been awestruck by the vision of the 'mucky mountains' that once dominated Collyhurst.

Although the footbridge is no longer in use, you can still access it via the steps that have been made even more precarious by the overgrowth of the surrounding scrubland. Once you reach the top you're greeted with a hidden piece of Manchester's industrial heritage, one which has well-and-truly been reclaimed by nature.

Join our WhatsApp Top Stories and, Breaking News group by clicking this link

Moss, grasses and wildflowers carpet the ground underfoot. But among the lichen and weeds, another sign of life can