Geese At Whitelands Basin On The Ashton Canal – Ashton-Under-Lyne, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 29.141 W 002° 05.374
30U E 560410 N 5926687
These metal geese are at the basin that marks the end of the Ashton Canal that was opened in 1796.
Waymark Code: WMGBJM
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 02/10/2013
Views: 2
The canal was originally built to transport coal to Manchester and so there would have been loading facilities at this point.
The canal was very successful in the early days, but competition from railways and roads led to the decline in commercial use of the canal. By the 1960s there was talk of closing the canal and covering it over but leisure boating had become popular and this canal forms a vital link with other canals in a large network.
After campaigning by canal boat enthusiasts and using volunteers the canal was renovated and opened to leisure boaters in 1974.
I assume that this geese sculpture was erected at the same time to celebrate this. However this particular spot still has an industrial feel to it and the sculpture feels a bit unloved. It has 3 tall poles each with a single goose flying over the site.
Ironically there were only 2 lonely real geese at this spot when I took the photo whereas half a mile away at Portland Basin there was a large number of them. I think this reflects that an old warehouse was renovated there in 1999 and turned into a museum. A lot of visitors to the site were feeding the geese which kept them away from their metal cousins at this spot.
Title of Piece: Unknown
Artist: Unknown
Material/Media: Metal
Location (specific park, transit center, library, etc.): Whitelands Basin on Ashton Canal
Web link(s) for additional information: Not listed
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