Canal Lock 4 Stone Bridge On The Peak Forest Canal – Marple, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 24.264 W 002° 03.619
30U E 562471 N 5917668
This is one of 16 lock bridges that are in the middle of the Peak Forest Canal built between 1794 and 1805 to transport limestone.
Waymark Code: WMKT46
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 05/26/2014
Views: 1
The Peak Forest Canal
It is a narrow canal and is fourteen miles long and connects Buxworth with Dukinfiled where it joins the Ashton Canal. The sixteen locks near the town of Marple raise the canal a height of 210 feet in a distance of 1 mile.
The advent of the railways and later modern roads led to the decline of the canal and it fell into disuse between 1920 and 1960. An upsurge in leisure boat use led to the canal being restored and reopened in 1974. Further restoration led to the historical basin at Buxworth reopening in 2003.
Lock 4 Bridge
All of the stone arch bridges are built over the tail of the locks, next to the lock gates to give access to both sides of the canal to operate the lock gates. All the locks on the canal are designed to carry boats with a maximum length of 72 feet and a width of 7 feet. The arch of the bridge does not span the tow path and so it is just slightly wider than 7 feet. Locks are always the narrowest point of the canal and building the bridge next to the lock makes it cheaper and easier to build
Apart from 3 bridges which also carry roads, the bridges are all of a similar design and are just big enough for boat owners to walk across and access each side of the lock.
The combined lock and bridge structure is a National Heritage
Grade II Listed Building. The listing tells us that it was built between 1803 and 1805. Benjamin Outram and Thomas Brown were the engineers, financed by S. Oldknow and R. Arkwright and it was built by James and Fox.