Pool Lock Aqueduct - 1828 - Kidsgrove, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 05.474 W 002° 15.320
30U E 549868 N 5882678
This 'flyover' aqueduct carries the Macclesfield Canal over the Trent and Mersey Canal.
Waymark Code: WMR13T
Location: West Midlands, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/26/2016
Views: 7
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.
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The Trent and Mersey Canal
As its name implies, the Trent and Mersey canal (T & M) was built to link the River Trent at Derwent Mouth (in Derbyshire) to the River Mersey.
The plan of a canal connection from the Mersey to the Trent ("The Grand Trunk") came from canal engineer James Brindley. It was authorised by an Act of Parliament in 1766 and the first sod was cut by Josiah Wedgwood in July that year at Middleport. In 1777, the canal was completed, including more than 70 locks and five tunnels, with the company headquarters in Stone.
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The Aqueduct
The short stretch of canal from the main line of the Trent and Mersey Canal to Hall Green which is nominally the end of the Macclesfield Canal was actually built by Trent and Mersey canal engineers, but is regarded as part of the Macclesfield Canal.
The actual junction where the branch leaves the main line is a normal right-angle junction called Hardings Wood Junction. The branch leaves the main line on the south side, then immediately turns 90 degrees clockwise. It runs westwards alongside the main line, maintaining the original level while the main line drops through two locks. At the Red Bull settlement, the branch turns 90 degrees right, to head north and cross the main line on Poole Lock aqueduct.
The Aqueduct is a Historic England Grade II Listed Building
link with the following text "Aqueduct and footbridge. Dated 1828. Red brick (English bond) with stone
parapet string and stone coped parapet. Low segmental arch spanning
the Trent and Mersey Canal with rusticated ashlar surround. The abutments
sweep forward and are terminated by wide pilaster buttresses with squat
pyramidal caps. Over the arch is a stone panel bearing the inscription
"POOL LOCK / AQUEDUCT / MDCCCXXVIII". On top of the aqueduct, spanning
the Macclesfield Canal is a footbridge: red and blue brick abutments
and cast iron bridge and balustrade."