History of the Macclesfield Canal

The Macclesfield Canal runs from Marple in Cheshire to Hall Green, near the northern end of Harecastle Tunnel on the Trent and Mersey Canal - a distance of 26 miles. The additional 1.5 miles of the Hall Green Branch that connects the two was built by the Trent & Mersey company, but is also now considered to be part of the Macclesfield.

Following an Act of 1826 the Macclesfield Canal opened only five years later. It was one of the last narrow-gauge canals (locks 7ft wide) to be built, and the audacious 'cut and fill' techniques, high embankments and ambitious cuttings are all indicative of Thomas Telford's hand. The upper section of the line is the second highest navigable waterway in the land, only topped by the Huddersfield Narrow Canal.

It is now part of the popular 'Cheshire Ring' and is oft-remembered by holidaymakers both for its elegance, particularly the roving or turnover bridges that allow a horse to transfer from a towpath on one side of the canal to the other without the need to unhitch; its spectacular views; and its architectural follies.

As this was a late canal, the lessons of earlier works were incorporated: locks, for example, are all grouped closely together for efficiency of operation. Consequently today's leisure users will find that a few hours' burst of energy is rewarded with miles of lock-free cruising either side of the flight.

In its heyday the Macclesfield Canal served to decrease journey times, and therefore reduce costs, between Manchester, the Potteries and the Midlands. It also served mills, quarries and mines around Macclesfield, Congleton and the Peak District. The canal passed into railway ownership in 1846, and although suffering the effects of competition, it was still being used for freight carriage until the 1960s. Fortunately, a local cruising club had by this time already been using the waterway for many years - and so, its leisure potential established, it remained navigable despite some of its near neighbours falling into dereliction.