Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The north bank of the canal is dominated by the Great Wall of Todmorden, a 12m high
curved wall of 4,000,000 blue engineering bricks that support the railway embankment. At
Shade, the railway crosses the canal on Gauxholme Viaduct. This is the last remaining in use
of the three arched viaducts that are found on the line, part masonry viaduct with castellated
turrets at the ends and more hidden girders added in 1906, which now carry the live load.
Travis Mill Lock lifts the canal past the Cross Keys. A succession of further locks continue
the process. Near Bottomley Lock, Stephenson gave up the contest and took the railway into
a 2.6km tunnel, the longest railway tunnel in the world when he built it in 1840.
A back-pumping scheme has been installed at Warland Lower Lock to assist water levels
at the summit. Warland Upper Lock, in front of the Bird i'th Hand, is the boundary between
West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester.
The summit level is 183m above sea level, Britain's second-highest, and those who get
this far can buy summit plaques at Longlees Lock, in aid of the canal society. On the road,
Todmorden Turnpike tollhouse at Steanor Bottom Bar still lists the toll charges. An inclined
trackway ran down to the wharf from a quarry and brickworks. The Summit public house has
a backdrop of a high stone quarry face at the foot of Blackstone Edge, on which were built
Warland and Light Hazzles Reservoirs as canal feeders.
Rhododendrons and dense greenery at Eastwood, hardly typical Pennine scenery
.
Beyond the A671 is the end of the Rochdale Branch, which ran northwards for a kilometre
towards the centre of the town. Rochdale - named after the River Roch, in turn named after
the British Celtic
rached
, river by the forest - was a cotton town and, like Todmorden, its
millworkers were involved in fierce rioting in August 1842. Two years later 28 weavers set
up the original Co-op store in Toad Lane (t' owd lane), a scheme that worked where others
had failed because it bought in bulk, sold at market prices and shared the profits in proportion
to purchases. By 1915, 3,000,000 people were claiming their dividends from the Co-operat-
ive Wholesale Society. The Rochdale Pioneers Museum is located in the original store. The
