The Huddersfield Narrow Canal – Stalybridge, Tameside, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 28.933 W 002° 03.403
30U E 562596 N 5926329
This plaque commemorates Rt. Hon. Lord Pendry, the MP for the town of Stalybridge re-opening the Huddersfield Narrow Canal through the centre of the town.
Waymark Code: WMH15H
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 05/05/2013
Views: 6
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.
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.
Although in the early days the canal was profitable, competition from railways and roads meant that it had closed by 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 was completed in 2001. In urban settings such as the centre of the town of Stalybridge parts of the canal had been totally filled in and built over. In the centre of the town a car park had been built on top of the canal.
As part of the restoration project lock 6W was rebuilt in Armentieres Square and the square landscaped to provide an amenity for the town. As part of the landscaping a large sundial was installed in the shape of lock gates and a new road bridge built next to the lock.
The wall of new bridge immediately next to the restored lock has a plaque with the following text.
HUDDERSFIELD NARROW
CANAL
STALYBRIDGE TOWN CENTRE
RE-OPENED BY
THE RT. HON. LORD PENDRY
OF STALYBRIDGE
MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR
STALYBRIDGE & HYDE 1970 – 2001
28TH MAY 2001
According to this Wikipedia
website "Thomas Pendry, Baron Pendry PC (born 10 June 1934) is a Labour politician and member of the House of Lords. He was previously the Labour member of parliament for Stalybridge and Hyde from 1970 to 2001. In 2000, prior to his retirement as an MP he was made a member of the Privy council on the recommendation of Tony Blair. After the 2001 election he was elevated to the peerage as Baron Pendry, of Stalybridge in the County of Greater Manchester under the Life Peerages Act 1958".