Oldham’s Bridge On The Huddersfield Narrow Canal – Stalybridge, Tameside, UK
Posted by: dtrebilc
N 53° 28.933 W 002° 03.418
30U E 562578 N 5926329
This bridge that carries Back Grosvenor Street over the Huddersfield Narrow Canal was built in 2000 as part of restoration work on the canal. It was opened by Councillor S.R. Oldham CBE.
Waymark Code: WMH159
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 05/05/2013
Views: 10
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. A number of bridges in both Stalybridge and Slaithwaite were rebuilt using funding from the Millennium Commission Lottery Fund.
This bridge, the 100th from the start of the canal at Huddersfield was one of these bridges. It is next to the bottom gates on lock 6W in Armentieres Square. The new bridge was made wide enough to also cover the towpath. This part of the canal had been totally filled in and a car park placed on top of it. As well as re-opening this bridge and lock 6W next to it, the square was landscaped to provide an amenity for the town.
This
Pennine Waterways Website shows the extensive engineering works carried out on the bridge.
The keystone on each side of the bridge has the year 2000 carved into it and on the east wall of the bridge is a lottery commission plaque.
The plaque to commemorate the openining of the bridge has the following text.
OLDHAM’S BRIDGE
OPENED BY
COUNCILLOR S.R. OLDHAM CBE
EXECUTIVE LEADER OF TAMESIDE
COUNCIL
28TH MAY 2001
The Metropolitan Borough of Tameside is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England. It is named after the River Tame, which flows through the borough and spans the towns of Ashton-under-Lyne, Audenshaw, Denton, Droylsden, Dukinfield, Hyde, Mossley and Stalybridge. It was created in 1974 as part of the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972.
The following details have been extracted from his
obituary.
"Councillor Roy Oldham became a local town councillor in 1966 and continued serving in one capacity or another until his death in 2010. At the time of the bridge opening he had risen to be leader of the Metroploitan council of Tameside. He held this position for 30 years, the longest of any person in the UK.
He was awarded the CBE in the New Year’s Honours list in 1999 and was granted honorary Freeman of the Borough in 2005 in recognition of his eminent services to the borough of Tameside."
This
Pennine Waterways Website shows pictures of the opening ceremony of the bridges and canal in Stalybridge. It includes pictures of Councillor Oldham.