Saddleworth

The area offers exceptional recreational opportunities for walking alongside the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, shopping in the craft and antique shops or enjoying a visit to one of the traditional cafes and pubs.

Canal architecture
Saddleworth Viaduct is an impressive engineering structure with a fine example of a skew arch. The aqueduct here crosses the River Tame and is known locally as "Old Sag" because of its noticeable droop - worth viewing from the riverbank. Walkers will find plenty of circular paths around Saddleworth that take in the Huddersfield Narrow Canal as well as the local history and architecture of the area.

Just to the north of Uppermill is Brownhill Countryside Centre. The Centre includes a sensory garden and regularly hosts rural-based activities from the Oldham Countryside Service's programme.

At Dobcross you'll see a newly-restored building known as the Transhipment Shed. This was used to transfer goods from canal boat to packhorse whilst the tunnel was being constructed. The Diggle Flight is the most impressive group of locks on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal climbing to the summit against a stunning moorland backdrop.

Diggle locks were cleverly designed to be operated by an individual boatman and were built by Thomas Telford around the period he completed the Standedge Tunnel. If you look closely at the tunnel portal, you will see the date '1893', indicating that that it was extended with the building of the double track rail tunnel. The Huddersfield Narrow Canal actually used to go further up the Diggle Brook Valley and if you cross over the railway bridge and walk to the bus turning circle you can still see short length of original canal channel and the original Diggle Brook Aqueduct.

Walking around Saddleworth
Walkers will find a number of interesting way marked routes over Standedge Tunnel including the Pennine Way and the Oldham Way, which connects the Huddersfield Narrow Canal to the Rochdale Canal. There are 5 reservoirs en route and a good number of interesting tunnel features to discover. Alternatively, you can get a bus past the tunnel from Uppermill, Standedge or Marsden or catch the train from Greenfield.