Red Bull Aqueduct - Church Lawton, UK - Arch 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 Aqueduct
The aqueduct forms a border between Church Lawton in Cheshire and Kidsgrove in the Borough of Newcastler-Under-Lyme. It is a Historic England Grade II Listed Building link with the following text "Canal Aqueduct carrying the Macclesfield Canal branch of the Trent and Mersey Canal over Liverpool Road. Dated 1828. Red and blue English bond brick with ashlar dressings. The west side has a central archway with cambered arch having ashlar quoins to either side and chamfered ashlar voussoirs, the tunnel roof being lined with similarly chamfered stone. Above is a rectangular datestone with raised border inscribed "RED BULL/AQUEDUCT/MDCCCXXVIII". The retaining walls to either side are battered and curve forward slightly and have pilaster buttresses at either side. A large-scale roll-moulding separates the body of the bridge from the ashlar parapet. The retaining walls diminish in height beyond the pilaster buttresses and curve around until they are parallel to the road and terminate in low square piers with pyramidal ashlar caps. The east side is similar. This branch of the Macclesfield Canal was owned by the Trent and Mersey Canal Company and built by their engineers."

What type of traffic does this bridge support?: Canal boats on the canal, and pedestrian and cyclists on towpath What kind of gap does this bridge cross?: Liverpool Road (A50) The name of the road changes at the aqueduct from Liverpool Road West to Liverpool Road East Date constructed: 1828 Is the bridge still in service for its original purpose?: Yes Name of road or trail the bridge services: The Macclesfield Canal Location: On the border of Church Lawton in Cheshire and Kidsgrove in the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme Length of bridge: Not listed Height of bridge: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   01/04/2017 Poole/Freeman visited it