Stone Bridge 72 Over The Macclesfield Canal – Congleton, 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 Bridge
This bridge is a Historic England Grade II Listed Building link with the following text "Accomodation bridge (canal). c1827. Sandstone rubble-coursed with ashlar dressings. Eliptical horseshoe arch with voussoirs and projecting keystone: ashlar band below parapet- coping to top of parapet.Setts to towpath and part cobbled path up to road, also steps. One in a fine series of bridges (and milestones) on the Macclesfield Canal."

The bridge is on a slight bend in the canal and the arch stones have grooves cut in them from where the tow ropes on the horse drawn boats rubbed against them.

Where any of the original bridges crossed the canal, it was always made narrower to reduce bridge building costs. Because of this many also act as places where stop planks can be inserted across the canal whenever it needs to be drained for maintenance. This bridge is one of them and there is a stock of stop planks next to the bridge.

What type of traffic does this bridge support?: Motor vehicles, bikes and pedestrians What kind of gap does this bridge cross?: The Macclesfield Canal Date constructed: 1827 Is the bridge still in service for its original purpose?: Yes Name of road or trail the bridge services: Brookhouse Lane Location: Congleton, Cheshire Length of bridge: Not listed Height of bridge: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Please submit a photo(s) taken by you of your visit to the location (non-copyrighted photos only). GPS photos are also accepted with the location in the background, and old vacation photos are accepted. If you are not able to provide a photo, then please describe your visit or give a story about the visit. If the bridge location prevents you from taking a safe photograph, then please do not stop to take the photo. Safety is more important.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.