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Ashton Under Lyne Canal
& Peak Forest Canal
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Ashton Canal and Peak
Forest Canal cruising guide, Ashton under Lyne, Portland Basin,
Marple, Bugsworth Basin, Whaley Bridge, Butterhouse Tunnel, Outram,
Brown.
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Ashton Under
Lyne Canal
Opened: 1796
Engineer: Brown
Dukinfield Junction with the Peak Forest Canal to Ducie Junction
with the Rochdale Canal.
6 miles, 18 narrow locks |
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Peak Forest
Canal
Opened: 1800-1964, 1974
Engineers: Brown (surveyor), Outram (engineer)
Dukinfield Junction to Bugsworth Interchange
14˝ miles, 16 narrow locks at Marple
3˝ mile branch to Whaley Bridge Interchange |
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 Ashton
Under Lyne Canal
An early success of the canal restoration movement, this
thoroughly urban canal climbs west-east to Ashton-under-Lyne on
the edge of the Manchester conurbation.
The free labour of gangs
of canal enthusiasts in 1968 (600 volunteers) and 1972 (1000
volunteers) kick started the remedial works.
Much redevelopment
has recently taken place along the canal in East Manchester,
partly as a result of the 2002 Commonwealth Games. |
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Twenty five years after the Bridgewater Canal
was opened to Castlefield, two canals were promoted eastwards to
the industries of Huddersfield and the limestone quarries of
Peak Forest. Typical of the fragmented processes of the Canal
Mania years, there was a separate Act (1792) for the 6 miles of
the Manchester and Ashton-under-Lyne Canal and its 11 miles of
now derelict branches.
The Huddersfield Narrow and the Peak Forest
Canals link with the end of the Ashton around the Portland Basin
and all three were finally opened at practically the same time
(1800). Trade was further boosted when the Cromford and High
Peak Railway and Macclesfield Canal funnelled extra trade into
the Peak Forest Canal (1831. However, the coming of the
railways reduced trade and the canal sold out to the competition
(1848). |
Peak
Forest Canal
Running south from Greater Manchester, the canal towpath links
with hundreds of miles of footpaths up the Goyt Valley, past
reservoirs into the Peak National Park and along the High Peak
Trail. Stunning scenery.
T. Brown’s ‘parliamentary’ survey (1791) of
this canal into the hills of Derbyshire had a major lock flight
at Marple, another at Chapel Milton and ended with a ‘railway or
stone road’ into the limestone of the Peak beyond
Chapel-en-le-Frith. The ‘railway or stone road’ is now called a
‘tramway’ but has never seen trams, nor was it a railway as
understood today but a pioneering ‘plateway’ . Instead of the
present day technique of flanged wheels running on I-section
metal rails, waggons or carts with broad wheels were hauled
along flat iron surfaces and were kept on course by L-shaped
upstands on the running plates - plateways.
Bugsworth Basin is an unique canal/tramway
interchange under continuous restoration by volunteers. A
Scheduled Ancient Monument (1977) that was partially buried by
the A6 bypass (1984) but further restoration is now partially
funded by European money.
Whaley Bridge, the branch terminus, has a
stone built warehouse and wharf, now used as a base for
restaurant/trip boat. Its two arches, formerly for rail wagons,
sit either side of a covered wharf. Within a few yards is the
start of the first incline on the rail line to Cromford. Waggons
were hauled up by chains powered by a horse capstan at the top
of the Whaley Rise for over 125 years. |
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OTHER CANALS
Ashton Canal,
Basingstoke Canal,
BCN,
Bridgewater Canal,
Birmingham & Fazeley Canal,
Coventry Canal,
Grand Union Canal,
Huddersfield Narrow Canal,
Kennet & Avon Canal,
Lancaster Canal,
Leeds & Liverpool Canal, Llangollen
Canal,
Macclesfield Canal,
Mon. & Brec Canal,
Montgomery
Canal,
Oxford Canal, Peak
Forest Canal, Staffs & Worcs
Canal,
Stratford Canal,
Shropshire Union Canal,
Trent & Mersey Canal,
Worcester & Birmingham Canal,
Rochdale Canal, Scottish Lowland
Canals, Forth & Clyde Canal,
Union Canals,
River Severn,
River Avon,
River Nene,
River Great Ouse,
River Thames,
River Trent,
The Fens, The
Broads. |
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The 'Cheshire
Ring' links to the
