Arch Bridge 18 On The Peak Forest Canal – Marple, UK - Stone Bridges on Waymarking.com

The Peak Forest Canal
The Peak Forest Canal was built between 1794 and 1805 to transport limestone. It connected the Ashton Canal at Dukinfield with Buxworth where limestone was delivered to the canal boats by a tramway from a quarry on hillsides above Buxworth.

The bridge has three arches, of two very different styles. The Peak Forest Canal passes through the centre arch and to the east of that an arch passed over an arm of the canal that led to lime kilns that were used to process the limestone brought from Buxworth. The kilns fell into disuse early in the 20th Century and the canal arm was filled in making this arch redundant. These two main arches are skew, semi-circular and have keystones.

The 3rd much smaller arch is is a compressed horseshoe arch with keystone and was used to allow the horses that towed the canal boats to pass under the road. Lock 13 is next to the bridge on the south side and steps from the lock lead down to the tow path . On the north side of the bridge, the side wall of the horseshoe arch have deep grooves where the ropes towing the boats rubbed against the bridge.

This north side of the bridge has a modern 20th Century footbridge attached to the side of the original arches.

The bridge became a National Heritage Grade II Listed Building on 11th October 1985.

Physical Location (city, county, etc.): Marple Road, Highway, Street, etc.: Stockport Road Water or other terrain spanned: The Peak Forest Canal Architect/Builder: Benjamin Outram and Thomas Brown Construction Date: 1804

Visit Instructions:
Post one photo of the bridge that is a different view from the one on the page and describe your visit. Add any additional information that you may have about this bridge. A GPSr photo is NOT required.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.