Great Ancoats Street Road Bridge – 1989 – Ancoats, UK - Bridge Date Stones and Plaques on Waymarking.com

The Ashton Canal
The Ashton Canal runs between Manchester and Ashton under Lyne, UK. It ascends for 6.7 miles and has 18 locks. It was originally built in 1796 to transport coal to the large industrial city of Manchester. As time went on a number of other short canals were built as branches to feed other goods from surrounding towns into the network. In 1800 the canal was extended slightly within Manchester to join the Rochdale Canal which greatly extended the network of the canals connected to Manchester. At its peak it was a successful canal, but competition from railways and then roads caused its closure in 1958.

During the 1960s and 1970s canals started to become popular with leisure boaters. After a long campaign this canal was restored and reopened in 1974. Most of the other small canal links however remain closed, but with junctions at each end it still forms part of a large network of canals

The bridge
The bridge is very close to the bottom gates of the first lock. Canal bridges are often built next to locks where the canal is at its narrowest. This bridge would probably have originally been an arch bridge, but Great Ancoat Streets is now a major road in and out of Manchester and it is now a wide concrete bridge. There are steps that descend from the end of the bridge down to the tow path.

Date built or dedicated as indicated on the date stone or plaque.: 1989 Date stone, plaque location.: Side of bridge visible from canal tow path Road, body of water, land feature, etc. that the bridge spans.: The Ashton Canal Website (if available): Not listed Parking (safe parking location): Not Listed

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Date Logged Log   04/11/2023 OrientGeo visited it