Rochdale Branch Canal

The Rochdale Branch Canal was a branch of the Rochdale Canal which led close to Rochdale Town Centre.

The Rochdale Canal was surveyed by John Rennie in June 1791, and in August 1791 he was asked to conduct further surveys for branches to Rochdale, to Oldham and another to some limeworks near Todmorden. [http://www.jim-shead.com/waterways/History21.html#RC Jim Shead, "History of the Rochdale Canal"] ] The canal was authorised by an Act of Parliament on 4 April 1794, which created the Rochdale Canal Company and sanctioned the building of a canal across the Pennines from Sowerby Bridge, where it would join the Aire and Calder Navigation, to Manchester, where it would connect to the Bridgewater Canal. [http://www.jim-shead.com/waterways/PNRC0561.htm#PNRCRC Joseph Priestley, (1831), "Historical Account of the Navigable Rivers, Canals, and Railways, of Great Britain"] ]

Construction of the whole canal would take around 13 years, but sections were opened as and when they became useful, and the Rochdale Branch, which was about half a mile (0.8km) long, was opened in 1798, from a basin at Richard Street to Halfpenny Bridge. [http://www.rochdaleobserver.co.uk/community/canal/history/s/331/331382_the_rise_fall_and_rise_of_the_rochdale.html Rochdale Observer, The rise, fall and rise of the Rochdale] ] Additional sections were opened in 1799, and the canal was formally opened in 1804, but there seems to be some doubt that it was all constructed, for two more acts of parliament were obtained in 1804 and 1806 to raise additional finance, and a final one in 1807 to tidy up some loose ends.

Navigation on the main canal had all but ceased by 1927, and an act of parliament obtained in 1952 banned public navigation on most of the waterway. It lay dormant for 20 years, but between then and 2002 the waterway was steadily restored and reopened. In 2000, ownership of the canal transferred from the Rochdale Canal Company to British Waterways, but there are no plans to re-open the Rochdale Branch.

The branch was filled in at the end of the 1960's, and a retail shopping centre now covers most of the line of the canal, with the former basin serving as the car park. Just a short section from the junction to Durham Street remains in water, and is used as a turning point. [ [http://www.rochdaleobserver.co.uk/community/canal/before_and_after/s/331/331384_no_way_back_for_the_town_basin.html Rochdale Observer: No way back for the town basin] ]

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