Rochdale Canal Mile 5 1/2 – Hebden Bridge, UK - Milestones on Waymarking.com

The Rochdale Canal was the first canal built to cross the Pennines to connect Lancashire with Yorkshire.

It was completed in 1804 and connected Sowerby Bridge in Yorkshire with Manchester in Lancashire 32 miles away.

Competition from railways and roads subsequently led to a decline in goods being carried and by 1937 the only section left in operation was at the Manchester end of the canal.

In 1965 there was talk of abandoning the canal but by this time leisure boating had become very popular in the UK and there was a campaign to keep it open. Work was started and the canal slowly re-opened in a number of different stages. The whole length finally reopened in September 2007.

A new set of cast iron milestones was installed by the Rochdale Canal Society to mark the restoration of the canal.

In addition some of the larger towns on the route have information boards with a milestone marker made of stone embedded in the ground. There are also two strips of metal showing the time to get to the next town on the route rather than the end points of the canal.

These strips show the distance and then the time for cycling, walking and by boat, and in the case of boats how many locks they’ll have to navigate.

The information board shows some history of the canal at this particular point, including pictures of the building work. In this case in Hebden Bridge.

In addition at the bottom of the board is map in the style of maps on London underground trains showing all the towns on the route together with rail and bus connections.

One of the advantages of doing a walk along this canal is that because it is using valley bottoms to navigate between hills, the roads and rail lines use the same valleys and it is very easy to get a train or bus back whichever part of the canal you are on.

This milestone marks mile 5 1/2 from the start of the canal in Sowerby Bridge, with 26 1/2 miles to Manchester.

Condition: Immaculate Material: Stone Inscription: SOWERBY BRIDGE 5 1/2 MILES MANCHESTER 26 1/2 MILES CYCLING 10 MINS WALKING 20 MINS BOAT 40 MINS (2 LOCKS) MYTHOLMROYD 1 MILE 4 1/2 MILES TO TODMORDEN BOAT 3 HOURS 40 MINS (10 LOCKS) WALKING 1 HOUR 30 MINS CYCLING 35 MINS Name of road: The Rochdale Canal Date placed: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   10/28/2012 hulletteers visited it