Macclesfield Canal Aqueduct - Congleton, Cheshire, UK.
N 53° 09.393 W 002° 12.080
30U E 553404 N 5889983
The Grade II listed aqueduct carries the Macclesfield Canal over Canal Road in Congleton.
Waymark Code: WM121W2
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 02/04/2020
Views: 6
The Grade II listed aqueduct was built in 1831 by William Crosley and carries the Macclesfield Canal over Canal Road in Congleton.
'Congleton Aqueduct is a minor waterways place on the Macclesfield Canal between Ramsdell Hall (2 miles and 7¾ furlongs to the southwest) and Swettenham Wharf (10 miles and 3½ furlongs and 12 locks to the northeast). The nearest place in the direction of Ramsdell Hall is Congleton Wharf Moorings; ¼ furlongs away. The nearest place in the direction of Swettenham Wharf is Congleton Winding Hole; ¼ furlongs away.' Source: (
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'The aqueduct known as Dog Lane aqueduct, gets its name from a short road that leads from Canal Road (under the aqueduct).
It was designed and surveyed by Thomas Telford as a cast iron trough aqueduct supported by stone piers and embellished with cast iron railings. The construction started in 1826 and was engineered by William Crosley. The canal opened on 9th November 1831 at a total cost of £320,000.
A description of the aqueduct by Historic England reads as follows;
"1 5144 MACCLESFIELD CANAL
Canal Road Aqueduct SJ 86 SE
3/132 II GV 2 Aqueduct carrying the Macclesfield Canal over Canal Road, 1831 by W. Crosley. Stone abutments with cast iron trough. Cast iron seqmental arch with ribbed soffit. Triangular sunken panels to spandrels with five flange bolted panels at trough level. Rusticated sandstone abutments, with moulded imposts, supporting plain stone piers with projecting band, these terminate in parapet-level panelled sections with projecting plinths and four way weathered caps which flank the cast iron balustrade over the highway. The bridge is flanked by curved embankment retaining walls which continue the impost mould as the plinth cornice and the pier band as the coping.
Listing NGR: SJ8663662173" Source: (
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The Macclesfield Canal was one of the last narrow canals to be built and runs approximately 28 miles from Harding's Wood Junction on the Trent and Mersey Canal, along the edge of the western Pennine hills to Marple Junction on the Peak Forest Canal.
The canal was built to serve the mills, mines and quarries of the Marple, Poynton, Bollington, Macclesfield and Congleton areas as well as to provide a link from Manchester to the Potteries and Midlands in competition with the Trent & Mersey, Bridgewater route.'
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