It originates in the Burnedge area of Shaw and Crompton, and flows through Milnrow into Rochdale before joining the River Roch at Newbold Brow.

The source of the brook, when the moorland is wet, is 200m south of Burnedge Lane, High Crompton, in Oldham Metropolitan Borough.

The brook then runs past Knott Booth and Dig Gate farms to its first culvert, beneath the M62 motorway.

North of the M62, the brook drops down a cascade of 17 concrete steps, including a 100degree bend, beneath Sir Isaac Newton Way, in the Kingsway Business Park, near the head of Ashfield Lane, Milnrow, and supplies a mere south of the eponymous Stanney Brook park, into which it proceeds to form the eastern boundary.

Its narrow meandering path can be clearly seen from both sides of a Metrolink tram, from which the triple arch underbridge may also be glimpsed.