Scent made from 'dirtiest' river

The Irwell powered many Lancashire paper mills

A perfume is being made with water from what was once said to be the dirtiest river in the UK.

L'eau de Marmalade will be made using water from the River Irwell, which runs from the moors above Bacup, Lancashire, to inner-city Manchester and Salford.

The water will be purified and added to orange and cinnamon oils to create a unisex perfume by Manchester-based jam-makers Duerr's.

They say the Irwell water celebrates their Manchester roots.

Fragrant smell

The river helped to power the industrial revolution, but its past led it to be named one of the dirtiest in the country.

Although clean-ups have helped to improve the water quality, it is not renowned for its fragrant smell.

The perfume will be made by one of Duerr's orange suppliers in Seville to celebrate the firm's 125th anniversary.

Managing director John Duerr said: "Orange oil is used quite extensively as a scent in perfumes out in Spain and so we decided to make our own but with bitter orange as the main scent.

"It is already a popular ingredient in Spanish-made perfume so we have just bought the smell to the foreground and celebrated oranges from Seville with a drop of water from the Irwell."