Lift Bridge 22 Over The Peak Forest Canal - Marple, UK - Moving Bridges on Waymarking.com

The Peak Forest Canal
The 18th Century had seen the development of the canal network in the UK to carry heavy goods, and led to towns such as Manchester become the first large industrial towns.

There was a demand for limestone and grit stone from the nearby quarries to be transported to Manchester and beyond and so the Peak Forest Canal was built with a connection to the Ashton Canal at Ashton-Under-Lyne.

The canal has a series of 16 locks to lift the canal a height of 209 feet from Ashton-Under-Lyne to Buxworth.

There is also a small half mile long side arm of the canal from Bridgemeount to Whaley Bridge. Even before the canal, there had been coal mines at Whaley Bridge and the canal became a useful way to move the coal and other goods.

The Bridge
This bridge is a farm accommodation bridge that also carries a public footpath across the canal. The superstructure of the bridge including bridge deck, A-frame, balance beams and counterweight box are all made of steel, and the bridge is surfaced with steel chequer plates. The substructures are of reinforced concrete. John also reports that the counterweight box travels down almost to the ground when the bridge is raised, and that there are no barriers or warning lights to alert pedestrians or drivers of vehicles to keep clear. link

THe bridge is operated with a windlass. All boat owners carry one to operate the locks and the same mechanism is used on the bridge.

Bridge Type: Drawbridge (Bascule Bridge) Pedestrian Traffic: yes Bicycle Traffic: yes Vehicular Traffic: yes Railway Traffic: no Built: Not listed Span: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Take a picture of the bridge and record the exact coordinates where the picture was taken.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   01/22/2017 Gushoneybun visited it