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The Rochdale Canal in Hebden Bridge, Calderdale, West Yorkshire.
The Rochdale is a broad canal because its locks are wide enough to allow vessels of 14 feet width. The canal runs for 32 miles across the Pennines from the Bridgewater Canal at Castlefield Basin in Manchester to join the Calder and Hebble Navigation at Sowerby Bridge in West Yorkshire.
The Rochdale Canal was conceived in 1776, when a group of 48 men from Rochdale raised £237 and commissioned James Brindley to conduct a survey of possible routes between Sowerby Bridge and Manchester.
The promoters, unsure as to whether to build a wide or a narrow canal, postponed the decision until an Act of Parliament had been obtained. The first two attempts to obtain an act failed after being opposed by mill owners, concerned about water supply. The promoters, to understand the mill owners' position, asked William Jessop to survey the parts of the proposed canal that were causing most concern. Jessop gave evidence to the Parliamentary committee, and in 1794 an act was obtained which created the Rochdale Canal Company and its construction. Rennie's estimated cost in the second bill was £291,000, and the company was empowered to raise the money by issuing shares, with powers to raise a further £100,000 if required.
When an Act of Parliament was sought in 1965, to authorise the abandonment of the canal, the Inland Waterways Association petitioned against it, and when it was finally passed, it contained a clause that ensured the owners would maintain it until the adjacent Ashton Canal was abandoned. Discussion of the relative merits of restoring the canal or the Huddersfield Narrow Canal in 1973 led the formation of societies to promote both schemes in 1974.
The Rochdale Canal Society wanted to see the canal fully re-opened, as part of a proposed Pennine Park. They worked hard both to protect the line of the canal and to begin the process of refurbishing it. A new organisational structure was created in 1984, with the formation of the Rochdale Canal Trust.
In 1997, the Rochdale Canal Trust was restructured, in response to announcements that there might be large grants available as part of the millennium celebrations. The canal was still at this point owned by a private company, and the Millennium Commission would not make grants to a scheme which was for private profit, rather than public benefit. The restructuring would allow the Trust to take over responsibility for the canal. However, the plan was rejected by the Commission, and to access the grant of £11.3 million, the Waterways Trust took over ownership of the canal.
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Originally named the Electric Theatre, the cinema opened on 25 November 1915. From March 1928, the cinema was owned by Gaumont British Theatres and on 11th March 1951 it was then taken over by an independent operator. By May 1952, ownership had moved to Star Cinemas and renamed Roxy Cinema. It finally closed as a cinema in February 1963. After lying vacant for nine years it was converted into a bingo club in the former circle area with a cafe in the main foyer and rear stalls area. In 2010 it was converted into a bar and nightclub.
60021 heads 6E32 Preston Docks to Lindsey OR past Wood Lane bridge on the approach to Sowerby Bridge - 06/05/15.
17th April 1988
47489 passing Sowerby Bridge with a diverted Newcastle - Liverpool Trans Pennine service
On the Rochdale Canal at Trub, near Castleton, a suburb of Rochdale. 21.7 miles from the start at Sowerby Bridge.
37419 ‘Carl Haviland’ / 37425 ‘Sir Robert McAlpine / Concrete Bob’ at Sowerby Bridge on 3J02 11:40 Hebden Bridge - Ilkley RHTT on 08/10/22.
The Rochdale Canal in Mytholmroyd, Calderdale, West Yorkshire.
It is a broad canal because its locks are wide enough to allow vessels of 14 feet width. The canal runs for 32 miles across the Pennines from the Bridgewater Canal at Castlefield Basin in Manchester to join the Calder and Hebble Navigation at Sowerby Bridge in West Yorkshire.
The Canal was conceived in 1776, when a group of 48 men from Rochdale raised £237 and commissioned James Brindley to conduct a survey of possible routes between Sowerby Bridge and Manchester.
The promoters, unsure as to whether to build a wide or a narrow canal, postponed the decision until an Act of Parliament had been obtained. The first two attempts to obtain an act failed after being opposed by mill owners, concerned about water supply. The promoters, to understand the mill owners' position, asked William Jessop to survey the parts of the proposed canal that were causing most concern. Jessop gave evidence to the Parliamentary committee, and in 1794 an act was obtained which created the Rochdale Canal Company and its construction.
When an Act of Parliament was sought in 1965, to authorise the abandonment of the canal, the Inland Waterways Association petitioned against it, and when it was finally passed, it contained a clause that ensured the owners would maintain it until the adjacent Ashton Canal was abandoned. Discussion of the relative merits of restoring the canal or the Huddersfield Narrow Canal in 1973 led the formation of societies to promote both schemes in 1974.
In 1997, the Rochdale Canal Trust was restructured, in response to announcements that there might be large grants available as part of the millennium celebrations. The canal was still at this point owned by a private company, and the Millennium Commission would not make grants to a scheme which was for private profit, rather than public benefit. The restructuring would allow the Trust to take over responsibility for the canal. However, the plan was rejected by the Commission, and to access the grant of £11.3 million, the Waterways Trust took over ownership of the canal.
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Best viewed Original size.
Coal drops and station approach at Sowerby Bridge - c.1970.
© 2017 - 53A Models of Hull Collection. Scanned from the original 35mm colour transparency; photographed by John Senior.
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142088 passes through the cutting east of Sowerby Bridge station while forming the 18:14 Preston to Leeds service. 16/5/88. I'd gone there that evening in hope of freight but I don't think I saw any.
The Rochdale Canal in Sowerby Bridge, Calderdale, West Yorkshire.
The Rochdale is a broad canal because its locks are wide enough to allow vessels of 14 feet width. The canal runs for 32 miles across the Pennines from the Bridgewater Canal at Castlefield Basin in Manchester to join the Calder and Hebble Navigation at Sowerby Bridge in West Yorkshire.
The Rochdale Canal was conceived in 1776, when a group of 48 men from Rochdale raised £237 and commissioned James Brindley to conduct a survey of possible routes between Sowerby Bridge and Manchester.
The promoters, unsure as to whether to build a wide or a narrow canal, postponed the decision until an Act of Parliament had been obtained. The first two attempts to obtain an act failed after being opposed by mill owners, concerned about water supply. The promoters, to understand the mill owners' position, asked William Jessop to survey the parts of the proposed canal that were causing most concern. Jessop gave evidence to the Parliamentary committee, and in 1794 an act was obtained which created the Rochdale Canal Company and its construction. Rennie's estimated cost in the second bill was £291,000, and the company was empowered to raise the money by issuing shares, with powers to raise a further £100,000 if required.
When an Act of Parliament was sought in 1965, to authorise the abandonment of the canal, the Inland Waterways Association petitioned against it, and when it was finally passed, it contained a clause that ensured the owners would maintain it until the adjacent Ashton Canal was abandoned. Discussion of the relative merits of restoring the canal or the Huddersfield Narrow Canal in 1973 led the formation of societies to promote both schemes in 1974.
The Rochdale Canal Society wanted to see the canal fully re-opened, as part of a proposed Pennine Park. They worked hard both to protect the line of the canal and to begin the process of refurbishing it. A new organisational structure was created in 1984, with the formation of the Rochdale Canal Trust.
In 1997, the Rochdale Canal Trust was restructured, in response to announcements that there might be large grants available as part of the millennium celebrations. The canal was still at this point owned by a private company, and the Millennium Commission would not make grants to a scheme which was for private profit, rather than public benefit. The restructuring would allow the Trust to take over responsibility for the canal. However, the plan was rejected by the Commission, and to access the grant of £11.3 million, the Waterways Trust took over ownership of the canal.
Information Source:
The Rochdale Canal in Mytholmroyd, Calderdale, West Yorkshire.
The Rochdale is a broad canal because its locks are wide enough to allow vessels of 14 feet width. The canal runs for 32 miles across the Pennines from the Bridgewater Canal at Castlefield Basin in Manchester to join the Calder and Hebble Navigation at Sowerby Bridge in West Yorkshire.
The Rochdale Canal was conceived in 1776, when a group of 48 men from Rochdale raised £237 and commissioned James Brindley to conduct a survey of possible routes between Sowerby Bridge and Manchester.
The promoters, unsure as to whether to build a wide or a narrow canal, postponed the decision until an Act of Parliament had been obtained. The first two attempts to obtain an act failed after being opposed by mill owners, concerned about water supply. The promoters, to understand the mill owners' position, asked William Jessop to survey the parts of the proposed canal that were causing most concern. Jessop gave evidence to the Parliamentary committee, and in 1794 an act was obtained which created the Rochdale Canal Company and its construction. Rennie's estimated cost in the second bill was £291,000, and the company was empowered to raise the money by issuing shares, with powers to raise a further £100,000 if required.
When an Act of Parliament was sought in 1965, to authorise the abandonment of the canal, the Inland Waterways Association petitioned against it, and when it was finally passed, it contained a clause that ensured the owners would maintain it until the adjacent Ashton Canal was abandoned. Discussion of the relative merits of restoring the canal or the Huddersfield Narrow Canal in 1973 led the formation of societies to promote both schemes in 1974.
The Rochdale Canal Society wanted to see the canal fully re-opened, as part of a proposed Pennine Park. They worked hard both to protect the line of the canal and to begin the process of refurbishing it. A new organisational structure was created in 1984, with the formation of the Rochdale Canal Trust.
In 1997, the Rochdale Canal Trust was restructured, in response to announcements that there might be large grants available as part of the millennium celebrations. The canal was still at this point owned by a private company, and the Millennium Commission would not make grants to a scheme which was for private profit, rather than public benefit. The restructuring would allow the Trust to take over responsibility for the canal. However, the plan was rejected by the Commission, and to access the grant of £11.3 million, the Waterways Trust took over ownership of the canal.
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Sowerby Bridge; Yorkshire the sun was just lighting up the walls of these old buildings by the canal.
Posterizing to reduce the tones emphasises the shapes.
Best viewed large
6201 "Princess Elizabeth" passes Sowerby Bridge with the "York Yuletide Express" from Liverpool Lime Street. 13/12/2009. I'd been all the way to Rainhill for this, only to miss it when I was messing about on the footbridge and it turned up unexpectedly. As a compensation shot I called in here, which is less than six miles from home! Shame about the palisade fencing and the Tesco banners, but it was the only way to get a shot there at the time. It's since disappeared altogether.
Sowerby Bridge
Another photo of the old railway line, this time a section of what was the track that ran been Sowerby Bridge and the village of Ripponden. Work commenced on this part of the railway on 30th September 1873, it was to take another five years before it opened, initially only as far as Ripponden before carrying on to Rishworth. It opened for goods traffic on the 15th July 1878 and for passengers on the 5th August 1878. This was thirteen years after the initial Bill received Royal Assent in 1865.
At its peak the line carried between 10 and 17 trains a day, the route closed completely on 1st September 1958. By 1962 the track had been removed, bringing to an end the railway up the Ryburn Valley. A total of 15 bridges crossed the line, 5 have been demolished and 10 remain. The 593 yard long Scar Head Tunnel which is further down the line has now been bricked up.
Most of the old track is a footpath, seeming owned by Yorkshire Water, other sections of it are now on private land.
Thank you for your visit and your comments, they are greatly appreciated.
56104 emerges from Sowerby Bridge Tunnel on the misty 15th October 1986 with 6E56 Fiddlers Ferry to Healey Mills.
If they were still interested, this is the very pleasant view that commuters would have as they made their weary way home from the Holmes Road entrance to the ex-Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Sowerby Bridge station.
The apartment block in the middle distance stands on the banks of the River Calder with Christ Church on the hillside beyond.
THE first canal to be built over the formidable barrier of the Pennines, the Rochdale runs from the Calder and Hebble Navigation at Sowerby Bridge.
It passes through Hebden Bridge, Todmorden and Littleborough before skirting Rochdale and Oldham into the centre of Manchester.
The only trans-Pennine canal without a tunnel, it climbs 600 feet in its 33 mile length and has 92 locks that could take barges measuring 74 feet by 14 feet and two inches.
Engineer William Jessop distrusted tunnels as the technique was still in its infancy, so the workmen sliced into the valley at Dean Head, Littleborough, creating a cheaper and quicker 'cut' 40 feet deep.
The decision to create a Rochdale Canal dated back to a meeting in the Union Flag Inn, on what is now Lord Square, Rochdale, in 1766. Supporters included the Lord of the Manor, Lord Byron, Richard Townley of Belfield Hall and Colonel Beswick of Pike House, Littleborough. They and 44 other prominent citizens subscribed a sum of £237.4.6d towards a survey. A canal over the Pennines would link the coalfields and canal networks of the east with the mills and ports of the west.
The canal had to climb 350 feet through 36 locks in just 14 miles between Sowerby Bridge and Summit, then fall 435 feet through 56 to Manchester which made it the most heavily locked canal in the country - the shortest section without a lock being just three miles.
The Calder and Hebble Navigation, a canal in Halifax, Calderdale, West Yorkshire.
By the beginning of the 18th century, the Aire and Calder Navigation had made the River Calder navigable as far upstream as Wakefield. The aim of the Calder and Hebble Navigation was to extend navigation west (upstream) from Wakefield to Sowerby Bridge near Halifax.
Construction started in 1759, with Smeaton acting as engineer. By 1764, the navigation was open as far as Brighouse, some 16 miles (26 km) from Wakefield. Having borrowed £56,000, factions arose within the Commissioners, with some wanting to stop at Brooksmouth, where the Rivers Hebble and Calder meet, and others wanting to raise more money and complete the scheme. The second option gained most support, and a new committee was set up, who asked James Brindley to take over from Smeaton in 1765.
The Commissioners felt unable to borrow more money, and so a second Act of Parliament was obtained on 21 April 1769, which formally created the Company of Proprietors of the Calder and Hebble Navigation. This consisted of all the 81 people who had loaned money to the original scheme, and these loans were converted into £100 shares. Additional shares could be issued, and the Company could borrow up to £20,000, with the future tolls used as security.
The Navigation prospered, with dividends rising steadily from 5 per cent in 1771 to 13 per cent in 1792. Under the terms of the Act of Parliament, tolls were reduced when the dividend exceeded 10 per cent, and the first such reduction occurred in 1791.
The Manchester and Leeds Railway company, which had approached the Calder and Hebble in 1836, but had been rebuffed, opened their line between 1839 and 1841. It followed the line of the canal and that of the Rochdale Canal. A year later, with canal shares having lost 66 per cent of their value, the canal company approached the railway, who agreed to lease the canal for £40,000 per year for 14 years, commencing on 25 March 1843.
The Aire and Calder Navigation objected to the lease, and in 1847, the Attorney General and the Solicitor General ruled that it was illegal and must cease. Soon afterwards, the Aire and Calder offered to lease the canal itself, and the agreement started in September. After the Aire and Calder's lease expired in 1885, the Navigation Company again took charge, rebuilt many of the bridges, and established the Calder Carrying Company. Shareholders continued to receive dividends until the canal was nationalized in 1948, and the canal was used by commercial traffic until 1981.
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