Canal Walk from Bollington to Macclesfield & back

Or how we spent Sunday the 18th of January

This Sunday we began our walk along Macclesfield Canal on Grimshaw Lane by the aqueduct in Bollington, whose boundaries were marked out in 1270CE. The Macclesfield Canal was one of the last narrow canals to be built. It opened in 1831. They considered building a railway instead. The route takes the canal from Marple Junction starting at the Peak Forest Canal in the north and travels 26¼ miles to the lock at Hall Green and goes through several small towns along the way. Besides the canal itself, there are so many stunning views over the Cheshire plains. The canal has two levels and is divided by 12 stone locks. They built the canal to serve the mills, mines and quarries of the area. On our walk through Tegg's Nose we saw the quarry mines and we walked along the paths they had used to move the rocks down to the canal for further transport.

It is also noted for its fine stone bridges - particularly the six change or ‘snake’ bridges where the towpath changes sides of the canal. I attempted to get pictures showing this. The bridge number is 29. Imagine the horses towing the barges up and down the canal with its large and heavy harness. These bridges were designed to allow the horses to move over to the other side of the canal without having to untie it from the boat or change up the harness. They occur every couple of miles so as not to wear out the animal. In Bollington they diverted the river through a tunnel so they would avoid piercing the canal embankment. You'll see our picture of cars driving through it.

Although the canal’s primary use today is for leisure and the tow path that the horses would work are now footpaths, 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. We saw the mills (originally for cotton at Bollington and silk at Macclesfield and another was for flour).  The top floors of Clarence Mill have been converted into luxury apartments and the Discovery Centre is also located in this mill. This center is for the locals as well as tourists to educate them on the history of the quaint old town.  Today the Aldephi Mill serves as home to many high tech businesses.

The milestones were restored in the 1980’s along the whole course of the canal. They say that there are no other canals that have stone mile markers of these sizes and quality. The story goes that Macclesfield's very stout stones had mostly been buried during the Second World War as a precaution against enemy soldiers using them to find their way! All but three stones were dug up and re-erected. The three could not be found so they were replaced with new stones cut from Kerridge Hill. 

We ended our walk where we began, at the aqueduct and headed in to the Dog & Patridge pub (built ca 1820) and, naturally, had a pint. There was still so much to see and do, but when it gets dark just after 4pm, you have to stop.