Macclesfield Canal

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Macclesfield canal just before Marple Junction

The Macclesfield Canal is a canal in east Cheshire, England. It runs 26 miles (42 km) from Marple Junction, where it joins the Upper Peak Forest Canal, southwards (through Bollington, Macclesfield and Congleton) to a junction with the Trent & Mersey Canal at Hardings Wood, near Kidsgrove. The canal gained its Act of Parliament in 1826 and was completed in 1831 at a cost of £320,000. As with so many UK canals, the arrival of the railways led to the decline of the canal. After World War II the canal started to suffer from a lack of maintenance and the threat of closure hung over it until the 1968 Transport Act came into force.

The canal is home to Britain's oldest canal cruising club, the North Cheshire Cruising Club. It was formally founded in 1943 although it has pre-war origins. The cruising club played an important role in preventing the canal from closing.

The upper section, from Bosley top lock to Marple Junction, offers 26 miles of lock free cruising. Since removal of the former stop lock at Marple, this and the six miles of the Upper Peak Forest make a wonderful Pennine cruising ground. The lower section, ten miles from Bosley bottom lock to Kidgsgrove, has a stop lock at Hall Green, with a small rise and fall. At Red Bull aqueduct, the canal crosses over the Trent & Mersey Canal, which it joins, after a further half mile. This junction is about three quarters of a mile from Harecastle Tunnel, northern portal.

There are no tunnels on the Macclesfield Canal, but there are several impressive embankments, e.g. at Bollington and High Lane on the upper section, and over the River Dane on the lower section.