Saddleworth Viaduct – Uppermill, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 33.186 W 002° 00.482
30U E 565716 N 5934259
This large railway viaduct has 23 arches and at this point crosses the Huddersfield Narrow Canal next to lock 23W.
Waymark Code: WMFRG8
Location: Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 11/23/2012
Views: 2
Saddleworth Viaduct
The viaduct was built of stone and completed in 1849. It was originally commissioned by the Manchester Railway company, but before its completion it had merged into the London and North Western Railway company. The architect was A. S. J and his design includes 3 skewed arches including this one as it crosses the canal.
The viaduct and canal lock is a fantastic example of Victorian engineering and is a
Grade II listed railway viaduct. Each arch is
semi-circular, has rusticated voussoirs, and is supported on
a rectangular pier with projecting plinth and springing
band.
The railway was originally built to carry goods and was to play a part in the decline of the canal, as it took goods traffic away from it.
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.