Forgotten waterways of stockport #history

The main line of the Ashton Canal had been authorised by Act of Parliament in June 1792, and in March 1793 the Proprietors obtained a second Act, which authorised a branch to Stockport, a branch which would leave the Stockport branch at Reddish and run along the Tame Valley to Beat Bank to serve some coal mines at Haughton Green, and a separate branch to Hollinwood. The Act authorised the Proprietors to raise an additional £30,000, with which to fund all three branches. Although the Company advertised for an engineer, they did not find one, and their agent James Meadows probably oversaw the construction. The Hollinwood branch was finished first, in late 1796, but the Stockport branch opened soon afterwards, in January 1797.[2]

With good supplies of coal from the mines at Werneth which the Hollinwood branch served, and difficulties in building the Beat Bank branch due to it being on a clay slope, the Company decided to abandon further work on the Beat Bank branch, and notified William Hulton, the owner of the collieries at Denton, that they could not afford to continue. An Act to formally abandon it was sought in 1798, and although opposed by Hulton, it was obtained. In the same year, the Canal Company built warehouses at Stockport, and wharves were allocated there to assist the Werneth Colliery to sell its coal, and thus generate more traffic on the canal.[3]

With the coming of the railways, traffic fell, and dividends had dropped to 6 per cent by 1842. The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway offered to buy the canal for an annual payment of £12,364, which would give the shareholders a 7 per cent return, and with a further payment of £540 per year to fund interest payments on debts, the Canal Company accepted gratefully in 1846. The takeover was formalised by an Act of Parliament in 1848, which required the Railway Company to maintain the canal in good order.[4] This they did for many years, running their own boats for the carriage of goods until 1892. The Canal Company was wound up in 1883, and the shareholders were given shares in the Railway Company.[5]
The canal was principally used to carry general cargo, such as supplying raw cotton to the mills and returning with manufactured goods. It also carried coal for the mills and the townsfolk who lived in the neighbourhood. Another important cargo was the supply of grain to William Nelstrop & Company’s Albion Corn Mill at Stockport Basin.
In its early days there was passenger carrying on the Ashton Canal and one of the routes was between Manchester and Stockport. The canal began to decline as a result of competition from railways and roads, and was described as derelict as early as 1922.[1]
Commercial carrying ceased in the 1930s but it lingered on into the 1950s as a barely navigable waterway. At one stage in the 1950s it was dredged but this improvement did not attract any traffic. Stockport Basin was the first section to be filled in but it was not until 1962 that the canal was officially abandoned by the British Transport Commission,[6] who had been responsible for it since 1948. It took many years to fill in and this was a disagreeable procedure for people living along its length.
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[ChB]

Thanks for the great video!
The working flour mill at the terminus is called NELSTROPS Mill in Heaton Norris.
In the 60s I used to walk to the bus stop near Nelstrops along the disused canal that runs parallel to Manchester Road.
As a kid I used to play near the canal until they built Whitehill Industrial Estate, a primary school and a fire station over it.
There's still a canal bridge on Whitehill Industrial Estate.
Happy memories!
Decades later I'm a narrowboater and wish I could sail along the Stockport Canal for old times' sake

[kenlowe]

One relic of the Stockport Branch that you missed is the former towpath bridge over a side arm of the canal near Cherry Avenue, just south of Ogden Lane, Openshaw. You may be interested to know also that a further branch of the canal was intended to run from a junction at Reddish, just south-east of the Stockport - Guide Bridge railway line, to collieries at Beet Bank, on Stockport Road south of Denton. Construction of the Beet Bank Branch was never finished, owing to difficulties with earthworks, but remains of the unfinished line can still be seen in the Reddish Vale area.
The main function of the Stockport Branch was to carry coal to the mills along its banks, some of which burnt large quantities to drive their machinery. The canal was still in use up to the 1930s but increasing competition from road transport, closure of some of the mills and general decline in the use of coal led to its closure.

[psyste]

Behind holdsworth mill in reddish you can still find a little bit of the old canal (it’s no bigger than a swimming pool really)

[marygarner]

Love all your Adventures always great time take care my friend

[ironnerd]

That was a great video, Brad. I'm working on a series of videos about my local community to document what has been forgotten. I always knew there was a canal near my house in the USA, but who knew it was built in the 1820s to carry goods to port. Everyone knew about one set, but there are three more below reservoirs now. Or that it was placed at a spot that Native Americans had been using since before written history. The roads I use every day have been in use since before white men came to America. Lord Cornwallis spent time near the canal site, and American Founding Fathers lived within sight of it, but we never talked about it in school.

Again, that was an awesome video. I love seeing forgotten local history... even if it isn't local to me.

[herbambs]

Awesome video. I love looking at history

[pammyb]

Fabulous!! I bet you enjoyed making that one. I love exploring places and seeing what I can find out about them. Beauty of having a job like mine which takes me to a lot of (at least I can when lockdown

[norfolknchance.]

Brilliant, really interesting insight, nice to see you out and about!
You will doing a colab with Martin Zero soon, haha!
Look forward to more!
Cheers.

[lornestrachan]

Thoroughly enjoyed you tour of that canal and a bit of its history.

[Gojirosan]

That was really interesting, Brad. Thank you!

[christopherbraiden]

Thanks for the video Brad, enjoyed this piece of canal history would like you to do more!!😎🐓🐓🇬🇧

[joshuaguilfoyle]

I love that bit of history. Please can you do more of them kind of videos.

[mrsb]

Very interesting. Thank you for taking the time to show us.

[XraySpectacles]

A very interesting video brad..thank you

[SouthCoastDetecting]

Great video Bradders, love this kind of vid, good to see you back out buddy 👍

[fenlandrob]

Thank you for the lovely walk around Stockport! I’ve never been to visit but thanks to you I’ve got a little look around, it’s a shame that all that lovely canal has disappeared. Probably why there’s a lot of flooding now. Fenland Rob

[DirtDiggersUK]

Thanks for the old Stockport canal tour, it deserves more plaques.

[vincentbarclay]

Great Vid, I used to play along most of that stretch of the canal before it was filled in. When thy were selling the apartments in Victoria Mill one of the selling points was that the canal would reopen (no chance).

[iaindann]

Tell you what Brad throughly enjoyed that, really very good, liked the style you did it, serious without being regimented, with a touch of ‘Brad humour’ and your own touch to keep it different. Very good another please. 👏🏻

[colinwhiteley]

Worked all round reddish and Stockport renewing the Gas mains, I never realised a canal ran through there... so interesting thanks.