Huddersfield Narrow Canal Bridge 66 – Diggle, UK - Stone Bridges on Waymarking.com

Bridge 66
This bridge carries a road over the canal next to lock 31W. Bridges on canals are often built near locks because they are the narrowest part of the canal and so are cheaper and easier to build. It is the 66th bridge from the start of the canal at Huddersfield.

In this case the bridge arches over the tow path and this would have allowed the horses to continue along the tow path without having to be unhitched from the boat. It also meant that the horses wouldn't have to cross in front of any vehicles on the bridge.

The tow ropes from the horses have left grooves in the wall of the bridge.

Immediately next to the bridge is a narrow channel carrying a small stream over the canal. Part of the channel is built out of stone like the bridge, but the part that actually carries the stream over the canal is metal.

This bridge is an English Heritage Grade II listed building, reference number 1067433.

The Huddersfield Narrow Canal
This canal is one of three that crosses the Pennine Hills and built to provide transport between Huddersfield in Yorkshire and Ashton-Under-Lyne in Lancashire.

As the name suggest it is a narrow canal that although was cheaper to build had less carrying capacity compared to the other two broad canals.

Work started on it in 1794 and partly due to the need to construct the longest canal tunnel in the United Kingdom it was completed 17 years later in 1811.
The canal is only 20 miles long and due to the nature of the terrain has 74 locks even though the summit tunnel reduced the required number of locks. The canal climbs 436 feet from Huddersfield and descends 334 feet to Ashton-Under-Lyne.

In theory having a summit tunnel to reduce the number of locks means that the journey times should be relatively short. However the tunnel does not have a tow path and when it was first opened it was necessary to lead the horses over the moor to the other end of the tunnel. Meanwhile it was necessary to leg the boat through the tunnel. This involved specialist workers who lay on their backs and used their legs with their feet against the tunnel wall to leg the boat through.

Competition from the railways led to the closure of the canal in 1944.

During the 1970s leisure boating in the U.K. had become popular and there were various campaigns to re-open canals that had lain derelict for a number of years.

Work on restoring this canal started in 1981 and the whole canal was finally reopened by 2001. These days the canal is only open to leisure boaters and with the re-opening of other connecting canals it is possible to travel far and wide.

However boats are restricted to maximum width of 6 feet 10 inches and a draught of 3 feet 3 inches which does restrict some boats that are used on the broad canals.

Physical Location (city, county, etc.): Diggle, West Yorkshire Road, Highway, Street, etc.: Ward Lane Water or other terrain spanned: The Huddersfield Narrow Canal Architect/Builder: Benjamin Outram Construction Date: 4/1/1811

Visit Instructions:
Post one photo of the bridge that is a different view from the one on the page and describe your visit. Add any additional information that you may have about this bridge. A GPSr photo is NOT required.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   02/09/2013 hulletteers visited it