The information board is located at Bridge 77 at the end of Lamberts Lane near the entrance to a public footpath and overlooking the Macclesfield Canal.
The board includes a map of the surrounding area that shows the canal, fields, roads, some buildings, public footpaths and bridle ways.
The board gives the following information;
" Macclesfield Canal
The Macclesfield Canal was built to serve the mills, mines and quarries of the region as well as to provide an important link between Manchester, the Potteries and the Midlands. It opened in 1831 but was sold by the Macclesfield Canal Company just 15 years later when the expanding railway network began to compete for the transportation of goods and materials. The Canal was acquired by the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway Company who believed that a combined railway and canal company could make greater profits. The Canal continued to be used commercially until the 1960's carrying mainly coal. It is now owned by British Waterways and is popular with tourists and day trippers aboard leisure craft. There are also a few remaining commercial narrow boats selling oil and diesel.
Today the Canal is a haven for wildlife. During the summer many flowers and insects can be seen including Yellow Flag Iris and the Common Blue Damselfly.
The Cheshire Ring
The Macclesfield Canal is 26 1/4 miles (42km) long and links the Peak Forest Canal at Marple with the Trent & Mersey Canal at Hall Green near Kidsgrove. It forms the eastern section of the Cheshire Canal Ring which is 200 miles (322Kms) long.
The Macclesfield Canal was one of the last narrow canals to be built in the country. It was surveyed by Thomas Telford and engineered by William Crossley. Construction lasted from 1826 to 1831 and cost £320,000.
(There is a small map showing the location of the canals)
Snailly Bridge
The Macclesfield Canal is famous for the six 'roving' or 'turnover' bridges where the towpath changes sides of the canal. These bridges were designed to allow a horse towing a narrow boat to move from one side of the canal to the other without having to be untied from the boat. Tey wee built from local millstone grit and this is Macclesfield Canal Bridge 77, Lamberts Lane Bridge, also known locally as 'Snailly Bridge'."
The board which is quite faded was produced by the Congleton Southern Fringes Project 2004.
Supported by: Heritage Lottery Fund, Cheshire County Council, Recycling, Congleton Borough Council, The William Dean Trust and Congleton Town Trust.
Lamberts Lane Bridge 77 on the Macclesfield Canal is a Grade II listed structure. Lamberts Lane is an ancient drover's route where farm animals were once driven between the hills and the lowlands of the Cheshire plain.
The description of the bridge given by Historic England reads as follows;
"Accommodation and roving bridge 1831 by W Crosley. Coursed Keuper sandstone blocks. Horseshoe elliptical arch; projecting carriageway band, concave battered abutments. Seqmental topped projecting coping to the north parapet but half-round flush copings to the south parapet which links to the towpath approach walls." Source: (
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