Some photos inspired by the news that youngsters once climbed this 35 foot high tower so they could breath the smoke of steam engines passing through the railway tunnel beneath. The hollow tower stands over the ventilation shaft of a tunnel carrying the Huddersfield to Manchester line through Cocker Hill.
The shaft was probably dug to speed the construction of the tunnel. Workers would have dug outwards from the centre of the one third mile long tunnel to meet those digging in from the tunnel entrances.
The tower with its spoil heap is a good vantage point from which to view Stalybridge and surroundings. The lads could keep an eye on their own homes. No 68 Wakefield Road is shown below, with the moors behind. They could also monitor movements at Stalybridge railway station, shown with the silhouette of Dukinfield Old Chapel in the top left corner, and Dukinfield Cemetery flowing down to the mills of the Tame Valley
