Locks: Peak Forest Canal

The Peak Forest Canal is a narrow canal and is fourteen miles long and connects Buxworth with Dukinfiled where it joins the Ashton Canal. The sixteen locks near the town of Marple raise the canal a height of 210 feet in a distance of 1 mile. During construction funds ran low and there was not enough money available to fund the locks. A temporary tram road was built in place of the locks which allowed the canal to open but meant that goods had to be transhipped between the canal and the tram road.

In 1831 The Macclesfield Canal was opened and has a junction with the Peak Forest Canal near to its highest lock. This completed, the Cheshire Ring, a set of canals that can be navigated as a complete circle, although junctions with other canals give access to a much large network of interconnected canals.

The locks were finally completed in 1805, and at the time were the second deepest locks in the UK. These days they are the 11th deepest locks in the UK.

The advent of the railways and later modern roads led to the decline of the canal and it fell into disuse between 1920 and 1960. An upsurge in leisure boat use led to the canal being restored and reopened in 1974. Further restoration led to the historical basin at Buxworth reopening in 2003.

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