Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal

The Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal

The Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal is presently derelict, incomplete and un-navigable to boating. It originally ran from Salford to Prestolee, between Kearsley and Little Lever, from where one arm ran to Bolton and another to Bury. The 15 miles of canal had 17 locks, including 4 staircases locks.
Work started on the canal in 1791 and a link to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal was originally planned, going westwards from Bolton to Red Moss, near the present Reebok Stadium, crossing the ridge at Aspull to the Leeds and Liverpool's Wigan lock flight.
For many years the path of the canal had been abandoned and built over, but thanks to the formation of a small local group of volunteers, the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal Society was formed with the aim of seeking ways of restoring the canal to full navigation once more. In May 2002, partnered by British Waterways and others, plans to restore the canal were launched.
The full restoration scheme will cost about £32 million and could lead to the creation of up to 6000 jobs. An independent study has shown that the restoration of 12 miles of the canal would attract investment, employment, leisure and housing and lead to the redevelopment of derelict so-called 'brown field' sites. The proposals include a new visitor centre at Nob End in Little Lever.
A major step on the path to ensuring that restoration would be possible came when extra funding was provided to enable a tunnel to be incorporated into the construction of the new Manchester and Salford relief road. This will make it possible for a navigable channel to be built below this road when restoration gets under way. If this had not been done, the canal would have been isolated from the rest of the waterway system. The tunnel beneath the relief road means that, when the canal is restored, Locks 1 and 2, originally next to the junction with the River Irwell, will need to be relocated further away from the river, probably on the other side of the railway.

THE PICTURES

The MBBCS is a non-profit Distributing Company Limited by Guarantee No 3074574
Registered Charity No 1048407
Registered Office:
36 Trawden Avenue
Bolton, BL1 6JD
Tel & Fax: 01204 844671
email: margaret.fletcher1@ntlworld.com
website: www.mbbcs.org.uk

The Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal Society is currently working with British Waterways, The Waterways Trust, Bolton and Bury Metropolitan Borough Councils and Salford City Council to restore the Manchester Bolton and Bury Canal and link it to the national cruising network.

For more information as well as progress on the restoration of the canal see the following websites:

www.mbbcs.org.uk (Official Website of the Canal)

http://www.penninewaterways.co.uk

http://www.mbbcanal.demon.co.uk

http://www.britishwaterways.co.uk

See Also:

The Waterways Trust: www.waterwaystrust.org.uk

British Waterways: www.britishwaterways.co.uk

Inland Waterways Association (NW Region): www.waterways.org.uk