Lock 28W Arch Culvert Bridge On Huddersfield Narrow Canal - Diggle, UK - Stone Bridges on Waymarking.com

The Huddersfield Narrow Canal
This canal is one of three that crosses the Pennine Hills and built to provide transport between Huddersfield in Yorkshire and Ashton-Under-Lyne in Lancashire.

As the name suggest it is a narrow canal that although was cheaper to build had less carrying capacity compared to the other two broad canals.

Work started on it in 1794 and partly due to the need to construct the longest canal tunnel in the United Kingdom it was completed 17 years later in 1811.
The canal is only 20 miles long and due to the nature of the terrain has 74 locks even though the summit tunnel reduced the required number of locks. The canal climbs 436 feet from Huddersfield and descends 334 feet to Ashton-Under-Lyne.

Competition from the railways led to the closure of the canal in 1944.

During the 1970s leisure boating in the U.K. had become popular and there were various campaigns to re-open canals that had lain derelict for a number of years.

Work on restoring this canal started in 1981 and the whole canal was finally reopened by 2001. These days the canal is only open to leisure boaters and with the re-opening of other connecting canals it is possible to travel far and wide.

This stretch of canal is unusual because it has a footpath on both sides of the canal. Usually there is only one path on the side originally used by horses when towing canal boats.

Although a canal appears to be flat there is always a very slight incline between locks and water continuously flows. In order to prevent flooding at the lock gates there is always an overflow channel.

The channel is usually on the far side of the canal away from the towpath. Sometimes it is completely covered over and in other cases left open with no need to cross it.

In this case part of the channel has been bridged between the top gates of the lock and the footpath.

Although unusual to need a bridge over a lock channel, it is not unique. In all other cases I have seen however the bridge simply takes the form of a simple stone or concrete slab laid across the narrow channel. What make this unusual is that the builders of the lock went to the trouble of building an arch bridge, albeit a very small one.

Physical Location (city, county, etc.): Diggle, Greater Manchester Road, Highway, Street, etc.: Unnamed footpath Water or other terrain spanned: Lock 28W overflow channel Architect/Builder: Not listed Construction Date: Not listed

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