Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Now begins the series of 18 locks descending to Piccadilly. The locks are in good condition
although the use of scaffolding-style safety rails owes more to economy than to beauty. Many
of the locks have overflow channels and about half of these are on the verge of being shoot-
able, subject to sufficient water flow and boats of the right dimensions and materials. The
first lock was subject to an arson attack in 1961, disrupting an Inland Waterways Association
protest rally in Manchester.
The first two locks were doubled in 1830 but only the left one of each pair has been re-
tained in use. Between them is a packet boathouse of 1833, which had services to Ashton,
Stockport, Stalybridge, Hyde, Marple and Manchester. The services were regular and effi-
cient and Ashton to Manchester took only two and a half hours, including working through
the locks. The building is now part of the Water Adventure Centre.
Locks 16 to 8 form the Clayton Flight over the next 1.6km, several with distinctive char-
acters. Lock 13, Clayton Top Lock, is overlooked by the Strawberry Duck public house.
Between locks 11 and 10, Britain's deepest narrow lock at 4.22m, is the bridge carrying the
towpath at Clayton Junction over the Stockport Branch. This ran for 8km, serving much in-
dustry. It was not used from the 1930s and was closed in 1960.
Standing back from lock 9 and the Bridge Inn is the church of St Cross with St Paul. It
was built in polychromate style in 1866 by William Butterfield and is one of three Grade I
churches in Manchester.
A large girder bridge once carried a freight railway but now has only bushes on it. The new
A6010 bridge crosses near where the Clayton Branch served a complex of chemical works
until it was closed in 1953. Before it on the right is the National Cycling Centre of 1994
with Britain's first indoor Olympic track and 12km of mountain bike trails. It is followed on
the right by the Indoor Tennis Centre and on the left by the National Squash Centre and the
Etihad Stadium of Manchester City, the Manchester football club supported by Mancunians
rather than the one supported by the rest of the world. The concentration of sports facilities
in SportCity is a 2002 Commonwealth Games' legacy.
Locks 7 to 4 form the Beswick Flight over 500m. The first has a lock keeper's cottage of
1865. At this point the Medlock Valley Way footpath joins the towpath and faces the turn at
the west end of the lock. This is very constricted. Between here and the next lock, Bradford
Lock, the Bradford Branch on the right served the Bradford Colliery. Both the branch and the
Colliery have now gone. The Beswick Locks are the last two of the flight.
An overflow weir disappears under a concrete-plank fence to join the River Medlock,
which is underground at this point. The river resurfaces at the Medlock Aqueduct, an arrange-
ment that is made more complicated by a large railway bridge crossing over the top of it and
a solid brick wall reaching from the railway bridge to the towpath on the right.
The final three Ancoats Locks come in 200m. There were several small branches, the
largest being the 400m Islington Branch. This left Ancoats Junction on the right, running past
