Macclesfield Canal 15 Milestone - Gawsworth, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 12.869 W 002° 08.030
30U E 557839 N 5896480
This milestone marks the 15 mile point from the start of the canal at Marple.
Waymark Code: WMR0KN
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/24/2016
Views: 1
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 canal originally had large milestones at every mile, together with small 1/4 mile markers. During the Second World War the large milestones were all buried in case of enemy invasion.
In the 1980s canal enthusiasts restored as many of the milestones as possible. They could not find all the large milestones and so 3 new ones were made. These days all the large milestones are now visible, but some of the smaller 1/4 mile markers are missing.
link
The milestone is an Historic England Grade II Listed Building.
link