Your floating hotel on the Canals and Rivers of the UK

Our guide to the waterways of the UK in detail.

The history of the Rochdale Canal.

N.B. As these notes are restricted to canals used by Reed Boats, we are here focused on the section in the centre of Manchester.

It was Authorised in 1794 it was to be 33 miles long with 92 broad locks, but a summit of just ¾ of a mile!

In Manchester it collected to bring into Castlefields the traffic for central Manchester from the Ashton Canal, which also carried the traffic from both the Peak Forest and the Huddersfield Narrow Canal. All this would bring tolls into the Rochdale.

Within 25 years of opening in 1829 the Rochdale Canal was a profitable success. Huge warehouses were built at the Manchester end and the canal was easily beating its competitors, the Huddersfield and Leeds & Liverpool canals.

The Manchester & Salford Junction Canal opened in the centre of Manchester in 1839. It was just ½ a mile long and was built primarily to allow Rochdale Canal traffic to reach the River Irwell (and then the Mersey) without having to travel on the Bridgewater Canal. Its junction on the River Irwell was also very close to the entrance of the Manchester, Bury & Bolton Canal which should have meant traffic from that waterway could now use the Rochdale Canal but it never really developed.
In the 1880's the Rochdale company began to run its own carrying business. Its fleet totalled 68 boats which were built to varying widths and lengths to allow passage through the differing lock sizes on the waterways on either side of the Pennines but due to dwindling profits it was closed in 1921.

In 1937 after many years of decreased usage the last boat passed across the whole Pennine route. This was narrow boat "Alice" which carried 20 tons of wire from Sowerby Bridge to Manchester.

The Ashton Canal, which made a junction with the Rochdale in Manchester, was officially abandoned after years of decline in 1962 . The Peak Forest Canal had seen virtually no traffic since WW2 and most of the Huddersfield Canal had been closed since 1944.

The company sold much of its property, leased many of its numerous reservoirs to local authorities and officially abandoned the through-route across the Pennines. However, the link in Manchester between the Ashton Canal and the Bridgewater Canal was always kept open though it was barely navigable and was hardly used until pleasure boats became popular in the 1970's. This short navigable stretch in Manchester was not nationalised by the government and was still owned and run by the private Rochdale Canal Company.

In 1987 restoration started on the canal

During Spring 1996, navigation was restored at the eastern end of the Rochdale Canal. The last major obstacle was removed at Tuel Lane bridge in Sowerby Bridge where a brand new lock, now the deepest in the country, was opened. Boats could now travel to the summit level and beyond to Littleborough. This is a distance of about 18 miles with over 20 locks and one original tunnel. The new navigable stretch is still owned by the Rochdale Canal Company but is run and maintained by the Rochdale Canal Trust

For many years with the growth of leisure cruising the privately owned Rochdale Canal had perfectly placed - from the company's point of view - as it formed part of the popular "Cheshire Ring" holiday route in central Manchester. Because of this the company was able to charge £30 for a licence which allows one passage through 9 locks on the 2 mile section in Manchester. Not only was the price seen as extortionist by many but the locks are renowned for being among the most difficult to use in Britain.

Then in ??? The Rochdale canal was opened throughout and control transferred to British Waterways.

Sources.

Nicholson Guides to the Waterways.

Roots & Routes, Peter Hardcastle's Website
http://www.canals.btinternet.co.uk/index.htm

Some pictures of this canal?

Pictures of the Rochdale canal.

General information on the canal.

Find our information about other canals and rivers on the canal index page.

We will not be on this canal in 2008

If you have any questions then do ring us on 07977 229103
or email us at martinreed@reedboats.co.uk