Stone Bridge 71 On The Rochdale Canal – Chadderton, UK - Arch Bridges on Waymarking.com

The Canal History
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 a summit tunnel. 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 a summit tunnel 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 2002.

Details of this bridge
The bridge is built over the tail of lock 63 and provides a nearby farm access to fields on the other side of the canal. It also gives access to both sides of the lock for boaters to operate the lock gates.

A lock always forms the narrowest part of the canal and so incorporating the bridge into the lock makes it smaller and cheaper to build. It also reduces the required size of the arch as the bridge only straddles the width of the lock and does not arch over the tow path.

There is also a flight of stone steps next to the bridge to allow boaters to pass between the boat at the canal level of the bottom gates and the towpath level of the top gates.

According to the Pennine Waterways website about the canal the standard height of bridges along this canal is 8 feet 11 inches (2.7 metres). This is stated part way through this page which shows work carried out during renovation in 2002.

Height of bridge: 8ft 11in What type of traffic does this bridge support?: Motor vehicles, bikes and pedestrians What kind of gap does this bridge cross?: The Rochdale Canal Date constructed: 1/1/1804 Is the bridge still in service for its original purpose?: Yes Name of road or trail the bridge services: Unnamed farm track Location: Chadderton, Greater Manchester Length of bridge: Not listed

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