Rochdale Canal

Rochdale Canal
The castellated railway viaduct of the Manchester and Leeds Railway just south of Todmorden
Date of act	1794
Date completed	1804
Date closed	1952
Date restored	2002
Locks	92
Status	Open
Navigation authority	British Waterways

Rochdale Canal

Legend Link to Calder & Hebble Locks 1-2 Sowerby Bridge Tuel Lane Tunnel Lock 3-4 Tuel Lane Tower Hill Nr Mount Street Hollins Mill Lane Rossgrove Lane Tenterfields Victoria Terrace Luddenden Foot Station Road Rockcliffe West Lock 5 Brearley Lower Lock 6 Brearley Upper Brearley Lane Moderna Way A646 Midgley Road Westfield Terrace Lock7 Broadbottom A646 Lock 8 Mayroyd Mill Station Road, Hebden Bridge Lock 9 Hebden Aqueduct Hebble End Lock 10 Lock 11 Stubbing Brink Caldervale Line Lock 12 Pennine way Lock 13 Burnt Acres Lane Stoodley Glen Lock 14 Stoodley Lane Shaw Wood Road Lock 15 Lock 16 Haugh Road Woodhouse Road Lock 17 Key Syke Lane Stack Hills Road Lock 18 A6033 Todmorden Lock 19 Dobroyd Road Lock 20 Lock 21 Caldervale Line Lock 22 Lock 23 A681 Bacup Road Lock 24 Caldervale Line A6033 Lock 25 Lock 26 Alma Road Lock 27 Hollins Road Saint Peter's Gate Locks 28-30 Lock 31 Deanroyd Road Lock 32 Bottomley Road Lock 33 Locks 34-35 Lock 36 Lock 37 Chelburn River Roch Locks 38-40 Timbercliffe Locks 41-44 Sladen Lock 45 Lightowlers Lane Locks 46-47 A58 Halifax Road Ealees Road Lock 48 B6275 Heald Lane Brown Lodge Smithy Bridge Road Little Clegg Road Clegg Hall Road Belfield Mill Lane Belfield Lane A640 Milnrow Road Oldham Loop Burnside Road A664 Kingsway Moss Bridge Road Rochdale Wharf Lock 49 Caldervale Railway Line Bedford Street Mills arm Lock 50 Durham Street A671 Rochdale Branch Junction Milkstone Road Dicken Green Lane Sandbrook Park A664 Edinburgh Way Gorrels Way Heywood Wharf Bow Street Green Lane Lock 51 Canal Street A664 Castleton Hope Street Lock 52 Caldervale Railway Line Montrose Street Old (blocked) route M62 Heywood Branch Junction New Lock 53 Earl Street Old (blocked) route Lock 54 Lock 55 A664 Slattocks Locks 56-58 Whitegates Road Caldervale Railway Line Locks 59-60 Boarshaw Lane Scowcroft Lock 61 Caldervale Railway Line Chadderton Fold Coney Green Lock 62 Walk Mill Lock 63 Irk Aqueduct A669 Mills Hill Bridge Laurel Avenue Green Hill Kay Lane Lock 64 Drummer Hill Branch Grimshaw Lane Lift Bridge The Causeway A671 M60 and Semple Way A6104 Hollinwood Avenue Parkfield Road North Oldham Loop railway Lock 65 George Street A62 Oldham Road Sisson St/Failsworth new Bridge Ashton Road West Lock 66 Ridgefield Street Lock 67 Poplar Street Lock 68 Dob Brook Close Footbridge Droylsden Road Old Church Street Mitchell Street Footbridge Newton Heath Locks 70-73 10 Acres Lane Locks 74-75 Grimshaw Lane Lock 76 Huddersfield Line Railway Anthony Lock 77 Hulme Hall Lane A6010 Lock 78 Varley Street Locks 79-81 Whalley Street Butler Street Rodney Street Footbridge Redhill Bridge Lock 82 A665 Great Ancoats Street Nr Tariff Street Brownsfield Lock 83 Tariff Street Brewer Street Footbridge Junction with Ashton Canal Dale Street Lock 84 Dale Street Piccadilly Lock 85 Aytoun Street Manchester Metrolink Minshull Street Chorlton Street Lock 86 Chorlton Street Sackville Street Nr Canal Street Lock 87 Princess Street Lock 88 Oxford Street Bridgewater Hall Basin Junction with M&Sj canal Tib Lock 89 Albion Street Albion Mills Lock 90 Tunnel Lock 91 A56 Deansgate Link to Bridgewater Arm Liverpool-Manchester railway Castlefield Duke's Lock 92 Castle Street Link to Bridgewater Canal

The Rochdale Canal is a navigable "broad" canal in northern England, part of the connected system of the canals of Great Britain. The "Rochdale" in its name refers to the town of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, through which the canal passes.

The Rochdale is a Broad canal because its bridges and locks are wide enough to allow vessels of 14 ft width. The canal runs for 32 miles (51 km) across the Pennines from the Bridgewater Canal at Castlefield Basin in Manchester to join the Calder and Hebble Navigation at Sowerby Bridge in West Yorkshire.

As originally built, the canal had 92 locks. Whilst the traditional lock numbering has been retained on all restored locks, and on all the relocated locks, the canal now has only 91 locks. The former locks 3 and 4 have been replaced with a single deep lock (Tuel Lane Lock), which is numbered as 3/4.

History

A Lock on the Rochdale Canal with water flowing over the gate

The Rochdale Canal was conceived in 1776, when a group of 48 eminent men from Rochdale raised £237 and commissioned James Brindley to conduct a survey of possible routes between Sowerby Bridge and Manchester. He proposed a route similar to that built, and another more expensive route via Bury. Further progress was not made until 1791, when John Rennie was asked to make a new survey in June, and two months later to make surveys for branches to Rochdale, Oldham and to some limeworks near Todmorden. The first attempt to obtain an Act of Parliament was made in 1792, but was opposed by millers, concerned about water supply, and it was not until 4 April 1794 that an act was obtained which created the Rochdale Canal Company and authorised the construction of the canal.

The canal was opened up in stages, as it was completed, with the Rochdale Branch being the first in 1798, further sections in 1799, and the bottom nine locks opening in 1800, so that boats from the Ashton Canal could reach Manchester. Officially, the canal opened in 1804, but construction work continued for another three years. A 1.5-mile (2.4 km) branch from Heywood to Castleton was opened in 1834.

Because of its width, it was more successful than the Huddersfield Narrow Canal and became the main highway of commerce between Lancashire & Yorkshire. Cotton, wool, coal, limestone, timber, salt and general merchandise were transported. In 1890 the canal company had 2,000 barges and traffic reached 700,000 tons/year, the equivalent of 50 barges a day, in spite of competition from the Manchester and Leeds Railway (1841). Cutting tolls, the canal managed to retain trade and remain profitable, but by the start of the 20th century it was in financial trouble. Its reservoirs were sold to the Oldham and Rochdale Joint Water Board in 1923. Apart from a short profitable section in Manchester linking the Bridgewater and Ashton Canals), most of the length was closed in 1952 when an act of parliament was obtained to ban public navigation (the last complete journey having taken place in 1937) and by the mid 1960s the remainder was almost unusable. Construction of the M62 motorway in the late 1960s took no account of the canal, cutting it in two.

Restoration

When an Act of Parliament was sought in 1965, to authorise the abandonment of the canal, the Inland Waterways Association petitioned against it, and when it was finally passed, it contained a clause that ensured the owners would maintain it until the adjacent Ashton Canal was abandoned. In early 1971, a boat rally was organised on the canal, and later that year, there was public debate over the high cost of a project which had infilled part of the canal to create a shallow water park, when restoring the section for navigation would have been cheaper. Discussion of the relative merits of restoring the canal or the Huddersfield Narrow Canal in 1973 led the formation of societies to promote both schemes in 1974. The Rochdale Canal Society wanted to see the canal fully re-opened, as part of a proposed Pennine Park. The Ashton Canal, which joins the canal above lock 84, reopened in 1974, and the nine locks on the Rochdale Canal between the junction and the Bridgewater Canal were restored at that time.

The canal benefited from the activities of the Manpower Services Commission in 1975, when £40,000 was allocated under the Job Creation Scheme to fund work on the Rochdale town section of the canal. The following year, another 150 jobs were created when a further £208,000 grant was made. Despite the progress, there were plans to sever the route with a low-level crossing by the proposed M66 motorway in 1979, and to build a supermarket on it at Sowerby Bridge in 1980, both of which were met with opposition. One benefit of the Job Creation Scheme was that the perception of the restoration changed in official circles. The local council was responsible for the young people employed on the scheme, which ran for twelve years, and found itself having to negotiate with the canal company. At its height, there were 450 people working on the canal, and since no-one could work on the scheme for more than a year, several thousand people learnt practical restoration skills, and many retained an interest in canals afterwards. The section from Todmorden to Hebden Bridge was completed in 1983, and opened on 20 May.

The Rochdale Canal Society worked hard both to protect the line of the canal and to begin the process of refurbishing it. A new organisational structure was created in 1984, with the formation of the Rochdale Canal Trust Ltd, who leased the canal from the owning company. A proposed extension to the M66 motorway created a new threat to the canal in 1985, but Greater Manchester Council began to look at ways to remove blockages in the following year, particularly the M62 embankment which blocked the route at Failsworth. Calderdale Council managed a £1 million scheme to remove three culverts and restore two locks later that year, with some funding coming from the European Economic Commission. The MSC-funded restoration was approaching Sowerby Bridge, where planners were proposing a tunnel and deep lock to negotiate a difficult road junction at Tuel Lane, so that a connection could be made with the Calder and Hebble Navigation. The entire eastern section from Sowerby Bridge to the summit at Longlees was open by 1990, although it remained isolated from the canal network.

In 1991, an Ecotec Report looked at the costs and benefits of completing the restoration. It estimated that another £15.9 million was needed, but for a total expenditure of £17.3 million, some £30 million of benefits would be gained by the region, including 1,028 full-time jobs. Some of this money would come from Derelict Land Grants. The re-fashioned link with the Calder and Hebble Canal (which had never closed) was funded by £2.5 million from this source. The initial plan included a lock that was only 57.5 feet (17.5 m) long, but space was eventually found for a standard 72-foot (22 m) lock. The first boat to pass between the restored Rochdale Canal and the Calder and Hebble Navigation did so on 11 April 1996, although the official opening did not take place until 3 May. Tuel Lane Lock is nearly 20 feet (6.1 m) deep, making it one of the candidates for the deepest lock on the British canal system.

In 1997, the Rochdale Canal Trust was restructured, in response to announcements that there might be large grants available as part of the Millenium celebrations. The canal was still at this point owned by a private company, and the Millenium Commission would not make grants to a scheme which was for private profit, rather than public benefit. The restructuring would allow the Trust to take over responsibility for the canal from the Rochdale Canal Company. However, the plan was rejected by the Commission, and in order to access the grant of £11.3 million, the Waterways Trust took over ownership of the canal. Additional funding to make up a £23.8 million investment package came from English Partnerships and the councils of Oldham and Rochdale. As restoration proceeded, boats could travel further and further west, and the restoration of the sections through Failsworth and Ancoats were a significant part of the re-development of the north Manchester districts. The restored sections joined up with the section in Manchester below the Ashton Canal junction, which had never been closed, and on 1 July 2002 the canals was open for navigation along its entire length.

Today

The Rochdale is significant for leisure boating in that it is one of the three canals which cross the Pennines and thus join north-western canals with the waterways of the North East, as well as opening the possibilities of touring various Pennine Rings (the Huddersfield Narrow Canal had reopened the year before, and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal had never closed).

A great attraction of the Rochdale Canal for the leisure boater lies in the fact that (unlike the Leeds and Liverpool and the Huddersfield Narrow) it climbs high over the Pennine moors rather than tunnelling through them, and the boater is surrounded by scenery which is correspondingly more spectacular (with the "penalty" of having to work more locks).

The Rochdale is at the heart of several important leisure boating routes

• In Manchester, the Rochdale Canal connects the Ashton Canal to the Bridgewater Canal, and is thus a short link in the Cheshire Ring, a one- (or better, two-) week canal ring which has been popular for 30 years.
• The Ashton Canal connects to the western end of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, making the Rochdale Canal part of the South Pennine Ring.
• The Bridgewater Canal connects to the western end of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, making the Rochdale Canal part of the North Pennine Ring.
• The Ashton and the Bridgewater connect the Rochdale to all the canals on the west side of England, including the Lancaster Canal, Trent and Mersey Canal and Macclesfield Canal.

East from Manchester, it crosses the Pennines via the hill towns and villages of Littleborough, Summit, Todmorden, Hebden Bridge, Mytholmroyd, and Luddendenfoot (where Bramwell Brontë was a railway booking clerk). Finally, at Sowerby Bridge, its connection with the Calder and Hebble gives boats access to all the north-eastern waterways including the Aire and Calder Navigation, the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation, and the rivers Ouse and Trent (and, for boaters who wish to do a "ring", the eastern ends of the Huddersfield Narrow and Leeds/Liverpool canals).

The Rochdale has had many problems since reopening (often related to a shortage of water, because the canal's reservoirs had been sold off when the canal closed). In April 2005 the canal bank was breached between lock 60 and lock 63, near the River Irk. Thousands of gallons of water surged down the river towards the nearby town of Middleton, echoing the great Middleton canal tragedy of 1927. The canal re-opened in Summer 2006, but had problems throughout the season.

The high frequency of navigation restrictions (and the need to book passage through Tuel Lane lock, and across the summit pound) means that anyone planning to use the canal should consult the British Waterways website.

See also

• Canals of the United Kingdom
• History of the British canal system

References

Bibliography

• Jane Cumberlidge (2009). Inland Waterways of Great Britain (8th Ed.). Imray Laurie Norie and Wilson. ISBN 978-1-84623-010-3. 
• Michael Pearson (1995). Pearson's Canal Companion; Pennine waters. Tatenhill Common: J. M. Pearson. ISBN 0-9545383-4-X. 
• Joseph Priestley (1831). "Historical Account of the Navigable Rivers, Canals, and Railways of Great Britain". http://www.jim-shead.com/waterways/sdoc.php?wpage=PNRC0561#PNRCRC. 
• Roger Squires (2008). Britain's restored canals. Landmark Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84306-331-5. 

External links

• Rochdale Canal
• British Waterways Leisure Site
• News item about the farmer responsible for the vandalised sections