Rochdale Canal Bridge – 1875 – Manchester, UK - Bridge Date Stones and Plaques on Waymarking.com

Details of the bridge
At this point the canal is passing through the centre of the City of Manchester surrounded by large buildings. At various points roads cross the canal and with high parapets it's not always easy to spot the canal below.

The bridge carries Sackville Street across the canal and has a cast iron parapet painted red. Bolted onto the parapet is a brown cast iron plaque with the following white text.

THE STOCKTON FORGE COMPY
- 1875 -
STOCKTON ON TEES.

The Canal History
The Rochdale canal is 32 miles long and connects Manchester on the west side of the Pennine Hills and Sowerby Bridge on the east side. The Rochdale Canal was completed in 1804 and is one of three canals that cross the Pennine hills. This is the only one that doesn’t use tunnels. In addition it was a broad canal with bridges and locks that allowed boats of 14 feet width to pass through.

The one downside of not using tunnels is that it originally had 92 locks. These days two of them have been combined into one deep lock.

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.

All the locks on the canal have a standard length of 72 feet (22 metres).

Date built or dedicated as indicated on the date stone or plaque.: 1875 Date stone, plaque location.: In middle of the cast iron parapet Road, body of water, land feature, etc. that the bridge spans.: The Rochdale Canal Website (if available): Not listed Parking (safe parking location): Not Listed

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