Marple Aqueduct

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Marple Aqueduct, also known as the Grand Aqueduct, carries the lower level of the Peak Forest Canal across the River Goyt at Marple, Greater Manchester, in north-west England.

Benjamin Outram and Thomas Brown jointly designed it and the contract for its construction was placed with William Broadhead, Bethel Furness and William Anderson. The first stone was laid without ceremony in May 1794. The three arches were keyed in during 1799 and it was filled with water in 1800.

The aqueduct contains some 8,000 cubic yards (6,000 m³) of masonry and the arches are semi-circular in form and are on 72 feet 4 inch centres. The lower part is of red sandstone, rough hewn from the nearby Hyde Bank quarry, and the upper part is of white-hewn masonry. The abutments widen in well-proportioned curves and batter or diminish upwards in the same manner. The skilful use of architectural features, such as pierced spandrels and string courses, arch rings and pilasters of ashlar stone, oval piers and stone of different type and colour have created a graceful structure, which is superlative in its class.

Its position, amidst the wooded valley of the river Goyt at Marple, gives it a bold and romantic character. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.