Stone Bridge 53 Over The Macclesfield Canal - North Rode, UK
Posted by: dtrebilc
N 53° 12.094 W 002° 08.517
30U E 557314 N 5895038
This single arch bridge known as Locketts Bridge was erected when the canal was built in 1831 and is an accommodation bridge for a nearby farm.
Waymark Code: WMR0EC
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/23/2016
Views: 2
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 "Farmland access bridge over canal, 1831. William Crosley engineer. Of reddish-buff ashlar gritstone with horseshoe elliptical arch, battered abutments curved in plan with square end-piers, plain band at road level and stone parapets with plain copings."
The canal is usually at its narrowest near to bridges to make the cheaper and easier to build. This also means that they are convenient places for stop planks used when the canal needs to be drained for maintenance. This is one of the bridges that has stop planks stored next to it.