Canals and waterways
Rochdale canal
The Rochdale canal reopened to navigation in July 2002. This was
the culmination of eighteen months of works on site, and decades of
campaigning and fundraising to bring about the ambitious
restoration, which has been funded by grants from the Millennium
Commission, English Partnerships and Oldham and Rochdale
Councils
Rochdale Canal is a Site of Biological Importance and offers a
home to a wide range of wildlife. Recreational opportunities across
the Borough include delightful towpath walks, fishing and
canoeing.
History of the canal
The Rochdale Canal opened in 1804 after ten years of
back-breaking work to create the first navigable waterway across
the Pennines between Yorkshire and Lancashire.
In the course of the 32 miles between Sowerby Bridge and the
centre of Manchester, the canal has 91 locks, more than 100
bridges, 20 miles of drainage and eight reservoirs, including the
118-acre Hollingworth Lake, now the centre of a huge country
park.
Known as the "Everest" of canals, the Rochdale rises through 55
locks on the west of the Pennines to its highest point 600ft above
sea level, then goes down through a further 36 locks on the eastern
side.
Along its length, it passes through scenery ranging from
steep-sided valleys and beautiful open countryside to some of the
most deprived inner city areas in the North.
For more than a century barges carried many millions of tons of
goods back and forth across the Pennines. Cargoes included coal,
timber, grain, stone, chemicals and the inevitable wool and cotton.
But by1937 freight services no longer travelled the full length of
the canal, although local coal boats operated in Manchester as
recently as 1952. By 1954 the canal was redundant, replaced by rail
and road transport.
Since then many of the original bridges over the canal have been
replaced with lower, non-navigable versions. Other building
projects have created further blockages, the biggest ones being the
giant roundabout at the Rochdale end of the A627M, the M62 near
Castleton and a supermarket in the Failsworth area of Oldham.
Restoring the canal
During the last 20 years, interest in restoring the canal has
been growing. By 1984 the Rochdale Canal Trust had been formed and
this body secured funding from the Millennium Commission and
English Partnerships.
Major restoration work has already been done on the Yorkshire
side of the Pennines, largely because Calderdale Council has long
regarded the canal as a major attraction for tourism, an
increasingly significant industry for the area.
Other substantial improvements have also been carried out on the
Greater Manchester side.
Thanks to growing interest in reopening the canal, the creation
of a major new blockage was avoided in 1988.
Huge protests about plans to run the new M60 extension across
the canal in Chadderton, Oldham, led to a public inquiry and
alteration of the road plans. The reclamation of land at Broadway,
Oldham, to create a new business park also had the canal as its
central focus.
The restoration combined major engineering projects to remove
the large blockages, with extensive dredging to ensure boats could
travel safely. More than 50,000 m3 of silt and debris
has been removed from the canal.
At the M62, the course of the canal has been diverted through an
existing tunnel under the motorway, and a new lock built to join
the channels. The defunct channel remains as a reserve for wildlife
that has made the canal its home.
The largest engineering project comes at the junction of the
A627M and Edinburgh way in Rochdale. A large roundabout blocked the
course of the canal. To restore navigation the channel was diverted
and a 100-metre tunnel was built under the road. Engineers raised
the junction by up to 2 metres and changed to traffic light
controlled.
Between Littleborough and Manchester, the project has
refurbished 24 locks and has rebuilt 12 road bridges. At some sites
where the canal flowed only through a narrow pipe, bridges had to
be completely rebuilt to allow boats beneath them once more.
The restoration of the canal is re-creating a major link in the
national canal network. Reopening other canals has brought new
business opportunities and substantial investment in adjacent
sites. Development of the Rochdale Canal is expected to create up
to 1000 direct jobs.
Who's who in the project?
The
£23.8 million restoration of the Rochdale Canal has been funded by
grants of £11.9 million from the Millennium Commission, £10.8
million from English Partnerships and contributions from Oldham and
Rochdale Councils.
The canal is owned by The Waterways Trust, a
registered national charity established to promote greater public
enjoyment and awareness of the UK's canals and rivers; develop
partnerships to secure funding for the conservation and restoration
of waterways; and helping to realise the social, environmental and
economic potential of living waterways.
The trust contracted British Waterways, to
carry out the restoration work and then manage the canal for the
next 50 years. British Waterways is the public corporation
responsible for the care and maintenance of the UK's 2,000-mile,
200-year old network of canals and navigable rivers, and works in
partnership with public, private and voluntary organisations to
develop and improve the waterways in a sustainable manner for the
benefit of everyone.
The Rochdale Canal Trust is a local
authority-controlled company and registered charity, made up of
Calderdale, Rochdale and Oldham Councils, working with Manchester
City Council. The Rochdale Canal runs through the areas
administered by those four councils, who together contributed more
than £500,000 towards the cost of maintaining the canal for the
next half century.