Thursday 25 November 2010

Lledan Brook Aqueduct

Lledan Brook Aqueduct
Montgomery Canal
November 2010

This is my first Montgomery Canal Aqueduct, and so a new label!



I can't claim to have bagged this one myself but fortunately I have friends out there that know of my odd interest in Aqueducts, and will take photos for my benefit. Credit for these one goes to Halfe who has published a full post of the structure on his blog.

This is the second aqueduct on the site, the first being a masonry affair later replaced with an iron trough dressed up to look like masonry. The sign board explains all:

Wednesday 24 November 2010

Weaver Aqueduct

Weaver Aqueduct
Shropshire Union
November 2010

The Shropshire Union crosses the River Weaver just  below the Audlem locks.

Even this high up the Weaver is still a substantial watercourse, so substantial that during the War plans were laid to extend the Weaver Navigation to Audlem and then upgrade the Shropshire Union to broad guage to allow larger craft to pass from Manchester to Birmingham.



The plan never came to pass and instead the Weaver continues to flow beneath the single arch of the Shroppie.

Monday 22 November 2010

Snapes Aqueduct

Snapes Aqueduct
Trent and Mersey
November 2010

This one sits mid way own Wheelock Hill (aka Heartbreak Hill).

Unglamorous but functional.


Hazelhurst River Aqueduct

Hazelhurst River Aqueduct
Caldon Canal
November 2010

There are actually three aqueducts at Hazelhurst Junction, the main canal over canal structure everyone knows and then there is the river aqueduct in the adjacent field.


The third aqueduct crosses the abandoned railway line, but I couldnt find a way down to the trackbed - so it will have to wait for another visit.

Hazelhurst Aqueduct

Hazelhurst Canal Aqueduct
Caldon Canal
November 2010

This perhaps one of the finest aqueducts on the system. Maybe not from an architectural perspective but it does belong to a very elite club of aqueducts which carry a canal over a canal.

The whole set up of the Caldon and its Leek Arm is a bit odd with seveal realignments as the feeder was added and then made navigable. The locks you see today are the third version.



Froghall Aqueduct

Froghall Aqueduct
Caldon Canal
November 2010

This rarely visited aqueduct carries the far end of the Caldon over a tributory of the Churnet at Froghall Wharf, beyond the impossibly low tunnel.


Special only due to its inacessibility.

Tuesday 16 November 2010

Leek Aqueduct

Leek Aqueduct
Caldon Canal
November 2010


Update October 2011


A further visit provided an opportunity for a further view:





The Caldon is blessed with a number of aqueducts but perhaps the humblest is the structure at the far end of the Leek Arm. This carried the canal over a river and on for quarter of a mile to a teminus now occupied by a scrayard.

The watercourse is no more and the channel has been infilled, leaving the aqueduct as an overengineered footbridge to the winding hole where the feeder from the Rudyard reservoir runs in.


Saturday 26 June 2010

Dog Lane Aqueduct


Dog Lane Aqueduct
Macclesfield Canal
April 2010

This is one of the three identical triplets including Stretton and Northwich - and Kynnersley if you stretch things a bit - call it three and a half !






Friday 25 June 2010

Dane Aqueduct

Dane Aqueduct
Macclesfield Canal
April 2010
This lofty beauty lacks the recognition it deserves.

Its single high brick arch carries the Macclesfield Canal high over the River Dane beneath Bosley Locks. Boaters will clock thje embankment but few dice with death and risk broken bones to reach the waters edge and view it from its finest perspective.








Thursday 24 June 2010

Clifton Aqueduct

Clifton Aqueduct
Manchester Bolton and Bury Canal
April 2010

This is an impressive aqueduct by any standard. All the more so because it has stood empty for the last 60 years but seems as good as the day it was built, patiently awaiting the restoration of the canal.

For the time being it serves as a very handy bridge over the Irwell for walkers and cyclists wanting to enter the adjoining parkland.






Wednesday 23 June 2010

Lumns Aqueduct

Lumns Aqueduct
Manchester Bolton and Bury Canal
April 2010

You could easily overlook this aqueduct, with its archway rooted out and the dry canal bed seemingly entering a narrows.

Tuesday 22 June 2010

Whaley Bridge Aqueduct

Whaley Bridge Aqueduct
Upper Peak Forest Canal
13th April 2010





Monday 21 June 2010

Higher Poynton Aqueduct


Higher Poynton Aqueduct
Macclesfield Canal
13th April 2010





Sunday 20 June 2010

Bollington Aqueduct


Bollington Aqueduct
Macclesfield Canal
13th April 2010






Saturday 19 June 2010

Houghton Dale Aqueduct


Houghton Dale Aqueduct
Lower Peak Forest Canal
11th April 2010






Friday 18 June 2010

Chadkirk Chapel Aqueduct


Chadkirk Chapel Aqueduct
Lower Peak Forest Canal
11th April 2010








Thursday 17 June 2010

Ashton Under Lyne Aqueduct

Ashton Under Lyne Aqueduct
Peak Forest Canal
11th April 2010






Wednesday 16 June 2010

Hawke Green Aqueduct



Hawke Green Aqueduct
Upper Peak Forest Canal
April 2010


Western portal



Eastern Portal

Tuesday 15 June 2010

Marple Aqueduct

Marple Aqueduct
Peak Forest Canal

Update:
I visited Marple Aqueduct on 12th April 2010 and grabbed the opportunity to take some photo's before the foliage obscrued what view there was. This is a near impossible aqueduct to photograph hence the montage approach.














A 105 yard masonry aqueduct, constructed by Benjamin Outram between 1794 and 1800 carrying the Peak Forest Canal 90 feet over the River Goyt on three graceful arches.
The structure is innovative in a number of ways, with its oval base piers being made of red sandstone sourced from the nearby Hyde Bank Quarry, and the upper sections using white masonry. The upper sections borrowed a construction technique from William Edwards in the shape of spandrills (drills through the spans!) piercing the haunches of the arches, reducing the weight of masonry.

The end result is a hugely elegant structure fully justifying its status as an Ancient Monument.
As at Chirk, a later railway viaduct runs parallel all but slightly higher than the canal aqueduct, detracting from its grandeur but even so, it has rightly been described as one of the finest monuments to the canal age.



interactive.stockport.gov.uk

Tuesday 4 May 2010

Hawthorne Lane Underbridge

Hawthorne Lane Underbridge (Aqueduct)
Bridgewater Canal
April 2010

An impressive three arched aqueduct spanning a road and a dismantled railway immediately to the west of Watch House Cruising Club, near Waters Meeting.

Hawthorne Lane Underbridge (north)

Hawthorne Lane Underbridge (south)

Monday 3 May 2010

Burford Lane Underbridge

Burford Lane Underbridge (Aqueduct)
Bridgewater Canal
April 2010

A classic Bridgewater design with a raised walkway to keep pedestrian's feet dry.

Burford Lane Underbridge (south)

Burford Lane Underbridge (north)

Sunday 2 May 2010

Dunham Underbridge (Aqueduct)

Dunham Underbridge
Bridgewater Canal
April 2010

A modern addition to the Bridgewater's Aqueducts, built in the 1980's as part of the breach repairs which included the narrows which reach from this underbridge to the River Bollin Aqueduct to the east.

Dunham Underbridge (south)

Dunham Underbridge (north)

Saturday 1 May 2010

Bollin Aqueduct

Bollin Aqueduct
Bridgewater Canal
April 2010

One of the more famous, or possibly infamous structures on the Bridgewater. This aqueduct and its surrounding embankment gave way in the 1980's, flooding a big area and took two years and several millions of pounds to repair.

Note the concrete butress to the  south added in the 1980's.

Bollin River Aqueduct -north portal

Bollin River Aqueduct - south portal

Friday 30 April 2010

Bollington Underbridge (Aqueduct)
Bridgewater Canal
April 2010