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Marple Locks

Between locks 8 and 9 on the Peak Forest Canal at Marple

We’d walked along the Macclesfield Canal a wee while back, and today we headed along the Peak Forest Canal and down the 16 locks starting in Marple. It was lovely. Very picturesque and a great short walk with plenty of photo opportunities. We walked from lock 16 down to lock 1, enjoyed looking at The Marple Aqueduct, and then returned along the same path back to Marple.

Marple Aqueduct with railway viaduct beyond
Marple Aqueduct with railway viaduct beyond

The Aqueduct was opened in 1800 and is the tallest masonary arched aqueduct in the country. The River Goyt, over which the canal passes, is about 100 feet below. Adjacent to the aqueduct is the railway viaduct built by the MS&L Railway (Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway) in 1863.

Walking alongside the canal and enjoying how peaceful and relaxing it was made it hard to believe this was a hive of activity in the transport of freight from the quarries and mills in the area. There are large areas between the locks to accommodate many canal boats and you could imagine long queues of boats ascending and descending the locks. Now, there’s just the occasional pleasure craft.

Marple Aqueduct
Marple Aqueduct

I took my 16-35mm lens, which was ideal when trying to capture all of the viaduct. I must admit I was most impressed with the aqueduct. It never ceases to amaze me how these magnificent structures were created with hard labour and, by today’s standards, basic tools. Not only were these building well built, but they were most elegant, often quite beautiful and seem to fit or belong in their setting. The little cottages alongside the canal are rather lovely too. Definitely worth a visit.

Lock keepers cottage
Lock keepers cottage on the Peak Forest Canal
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Middlewood Way

Rather a lovely walk today heading down the old railway and then back along the Macclesfield Canal. The railway stops now at Rose Hill Station in Marple, but used to continue all the way to Macclesfield. Today, this stretch of line from Rose Hill Station to Macclesfield is a lovely path on which you can walk, cycle or ride your horse.

Commemorative Plaque along the railway

There seems to be many of these old railways dotted around the northwest of England. You can’t help but wonder if they’d not been scrapped would we have less traffic on the roads? I suspect our love affair with the car would have still made certain lines redundant, but I do sometimes wonder. It’s interesting that in many cases the area has developed its population quite significantly since the demise of the railway making its viability rather more positive than when it was scrapped. Oh well, we can at least enjoy the walk along the route.

Macclesfield Canal

We walked down the old railway from Rose Hill Station down to the Nelson Pit visitor centre where we crossed over to the Macclesfield Canal to do a circular walk back to Rosehill Station. It was lovely. There were a few people about, but most people behaved and observed social distancing.

Bridge Number 9 on the Macclesfield Canal

There’s plenty to see as you walk along the towpath with some lovely bridges. All up it was about an 8 mile circuit, but mostly flat and quite easy going. Definitely a lovely walk and somewhere we’ll return. If you want to find out more click here for a PDF of the route.