About the
Hollinwood
Canal
• Location of
the canal
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The Hollinwood Canal system is just east of Manchester.
The Hollinwood Branch Canal started at Fairfield Junction on the Ashton Canal, in Droylsden (about 4 miles east of Manchester). It ran north-east to Daisy Nook Country Park, where it crossed the River Medlock and continued roughly north-westwards to Hollinwood. From here, the canal continued northwards in the direction of Chadderton. It met tramroads that brought coal from the mines to the south and west of Oldham. The Fairbottom Branch Canal left the Hollinwood Branch at Daisy Nook and ran eastward to Bardsley and Fairbottom, where a tramroad brought coal from Park Bridge.
The 1792 proposed link to the Rochdale Canal would have been around half a mile long with 3 locks.
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• History of
the canal
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The Ashton Canal was proposed as the Manchester Ashton and Oldham Canal and opened in 1797. The canal included branches to Hollinwood and Stockport and a short spur to Dukinfield. Extensions included the Fairbottom Branch off the Hollinwood Branch and the uncompleted Beat Bank Branch off the Stockport Branch.
The opening of the Ashton Canal was followed two years later by that of the Peak Forest Canal, constructed mainly to carry Derbyshire limestone, joining the Ashton Canal at Dukinfield Junction. The Huddersfield Narrow Canal followed, giving a link across the Pennines from Manchester to Huddersfield.
The Hollinwood Branch ran for four and a half miles from Fairfield Locks, Droylsden, between Manchester and Ashton, through Waterhouses, the area now known as Daisy Nook, to Hollinwood. Tram roads brought coal from Werneth and Copster Hill to a loading basin at Butterworth Green, Top Hollinwood. A tramway led from the colliery at Wood Park, Bardsley to the canal near Crime Lake. A branch of the canal ran along the Medlock Valley to Fenny Field Bridge, Fairbottom, where it met a tramway bringing coal from Park Bridge and Rocher Vale to the east.
A privately built extension, known as the Werneth Canal, ran a further half mile from Top Hollinwood to Washbrook and Old Lane, Chadderton, where it met a tram road from the Copster Hill and Chamber Collieries.
The Hollinwood and Stockport branches fell into disuse for commercial traffic in the 1930s, followed by the main Ashton line in 1957.
Restoration work in the mid 1970s reopened the Ashton Canal from Manchester to Dukinfield Junction and today, with the restored Peak Forest Canal, forms part of the "Cheshire Ring" and, with the restored Rochdale Canal, forms part of the "South Pennine Ring".
The Hollinwood, Fairbottom and Stockport branches are all now derelict and partially infilled or built over.
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• Obstacles to
restoration
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The most significant obstacle to the restoration of the canal is the M60 motorway, which crosses the line of the canal twice between Droylsden and Hollinwood. The levels are not suitable for aqueducts to be constructed straight across on the original line and level of the canal. It may be possible to divert the canal slightly to the north at Littlemoss and construct an aqueduct where the motorway is at a lower level. Another solution, which would work for both crossings, would be a raised aqueduct with a lock at each side and a pump to ensure that there is sufficient water in the aqueduct trough. Other options will be investigated and suggestions are welcome!
There was an aqueduct which arried the canal across the Manchester to Huddersfield railway at Littlemoss. This aqueduct was removed when the canal was closed and would need to be replaced.
Parts of the canal are still in water and much of the canal route is still open land. However, there has been some building on sections of the route in Droylsden and Hollinwood. There are a number of options for alternative routes in these areas which we will investigate.
The construction of a new link from Hollinwood to the Rochdale Canal would involve a bridge to take the canal below the A62 Oldham Road. It may be possible to use an existing bridge at Hudson Street to take the canal under the railway.
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