Arch Bridge 60 Over The Macclesfield Canal - Congleton, UK - Stone Bridges on Waymarking.com

The Macclesfield Canal
The Macclesfield Canal was one of the last narrow canals to be built, indeed, it was very nearly built as a railway! A variety of ideas were proposed and the present canal was approved by Act of Parliament in April 1826. The route of the canal was surveyed by Thomas Telford and construction was engineered by William Crosley. The completed canal was opened on 9th November 1831 at a cost of £320,000.

The route takes the canal from Marple Junction with the Peak Forest Canal in the north 26¼ miles to the stop lock at Hall Green near Kidsgrove passing along the side of the most westerly Pennine hills through High Lane, Higher Poynton, Bollington, Macclesfield and Congleton, all in Cheshire, and Kidsgrove in Staffordshire in the south. Nowadays we normally regard the last 1½ miles to Harding's Wood Junction with the Trent & Mersey Canal as a part of the Macclesfield Canal although it was built as a branch of the T&MC. link

The Bridge
This bridge is a Historic England Grade II Listed Building link with the following text "Accomodation bridge. c1830. William Crosley engineer. Coursed sandstone blocks with ashlar dressings. Horseshoe/eliptical arch with voussoirs and a prominent keystone that rises to a chamfered band below parapet. Walls terminate in square piers: parapet has coping. NB One in a series of fine bridges, milestones and distance markers on the Macclesfield Canal."

Where bridges are built the canal narrows as this makes the bridge cheaper and easier to build. They therefore make convenient paces for stop planks to be stored. The planks are used when it is necessary to drain part of the canal for maintenance. This bridge is one of those where the planks are stored.

Physical Location (city, county, etc.): Congleton, Cheshire Road, Highway, Street, etc.: Unnamed farm track Water or other terrain spanned: The Macclesfield Canal Architect/Builder: William Crosley Construction Date: 1830

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Date Logged Log User Rating   06/21/2019 Poole/Freeman visited it 06/21/2019 Mike_bjm visited it

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