Quackers at Marple

In and out of the water at Top Lock Marina on the Peak Forest Canal.

A contribution to
Weekend Reflections;
Scenic Weekends;
Saturday Critters;
Camera Critters.

Marple ducks

The notice sellotaped to a tree on alongside the Peak Forest Canal at Marple reads:
PLEASE READ

Ducks need a
nutritional diet too.

Feeding white bread to ducks can
stunt their growth and prevent
them from flying. Give them
a healthy dinner of cracked corn,
birdseed or oats instead.

The nearest ducks I encountered were enjoying the manicured lawn of a house on the opposite side of the canal.

A contribution to Wednesday Waters and signs, signs.

Gates at Lock #15

These are the lock gates on the Peak Forest Canal at Marple.

A flight of sixteen locks raise the canal more than 200 feet over the course of about a mile.

A contribution to The Weekend in Black and White.

Bottom Lock Bridge

Following on from our recent photograph of Engineer Wharf viewed from a train on the railway viaduct between Romiley and Marple, is Bottom Lock Change Bridge.

From here the Peak Forest Canal, having been carried over the valley of the river Goyt on an aqueduct, progresses through the Marple Locks, a series of 16 locks and one of the steepest flights in the country.

Note: this photograph was taken in 2009.

A contribution to Weekend Reflections,
Scenic Weekends
and Sunday Bridges at San Francisco Bay Daily Photo.

E is for Engineer Wharf

Engineer Wharf viewed from a train on the railway viaduct between Romiley and Marple.

Engineer Wharf is situated on the north side of the Peak Forest canal, close to the foot of Marple Locks, and it contained the canal company's workshops dating from 1825. These included a blacksmith's forge and a carpenter's workshop where replacement lock gates were made.

A Tithe Map of 1850 shows the wharf prior to the construction of Marple Viaduct by the Sheffield and Midland Railway Company, which carried their line over the river Goyt as well as over the wharf.

More information can be found on the PittDixon website.

The canal has just been carried over the valley of the river Goyt on an aqueduct after which it progresses through the Marple Locks, a series of 16 locks and one of the steepest flights in the country.

A contribution to Our World Tuesday,
Outdoor Wednesday,
Water World Wednesday,
and ABC Wednesday.

Helen Winterson's Clock

The Clock on the former Co-op building which houses Helen Winterson's Ladies Fashions was originally commissioned in 1898. It had not gone for many years so to mark Helen Winterson's fifty years in business in Marple, the owner Judi Winterson, decided that it was time to have it renovated.

With the encouragement of Marple Civic Society and the Marple Regeneration Partnership, local clock restorer Symon Boyd was engaged to start work on removing the old clock from its tower. He painstakingly covered the original Chapter Ring and Hands with 23.5 caret gold leaf, renewed the clock face and light and installed a modern accurate mechanism. An inscription on the clock face "1953-2003" records the fact that Judi's mother Helen Winterson established the business fifty years ago and that it is still going strong.

The original mechanism, made by Fosters of Manchester (a flat bed dead beat escarpment for the enthusiast) incorporated a 10 foot pendulum and a weights cupboard and someone had to climb into the clock housing each week to wind it up.

The Worshipful the Mayor of Stockport Councillor David Brailsford unveiled the refurbished old Co-op Clock at 10.30 am on Wednesday 30th April 2003. More information on the Marple website.

A contribution to Monday Mellow Yellows.

Engineer Wharf

Engineer Wharf is situated on the north side of the Peak Forest Canal, close to the foot of Marple Locks, and it contained the canal company's workshops dating from 1825.

This view was taken from a train crossing on the viaduct above.

More information about the history of the wharf can be found on the Industrial Heritage of Britain website.

A contribution to Our World Tuesday.

Iron Bridge, Brabyns Park, Marple

The Iron Bridge is one of a very few cast iron bridges surviving from the period when it was built, in 1813, for the then owner of the Brabyns Estate, Nathaniel Wright. Its purpose was as a carriage bridge across the River Goyt, creating access to Wright's estate from the village of Compstall. The bridge was one of the world's first cast iron bridges and is one of the few remaining from the period.

The Iron Bridge was deemed to be dangerous in 1991 and a temporary "Bailey" type footbridge was installed to carry pedestrians, horse riders and cyclists over the River Goyt. The restoration project started in 2003 and works to restore the bridge started in September 2007. The restored bridge was opened on the 22nd June 2008.

Near to the Iron Bridge is a tree stump carved by chainsaw artist Andrew Frost. It is fitted with a bronze plaque commemorating the restoration of the bridge. More information about the restoration project can be found on the Marple UK website. Since I took these photographs in 2009 the viewing platform has been much improved.

These are the words on the plaque:

Nathaniel Wright purchased the Brabyns Estate in 1800. Wright was a wealthy coalminer who owned pits at Poynton and was a contemporary of Samuel Oldknow. Oldknow considered using cast iron for the construction of Bottoms Bridge near to his Mellor Mill around the time Wright moved to Marple but chose the reliability of stone over this modern and relatively untried method. Cast iron was also considered for the Marple Aqueduct but designer Benjamin Outram opted for an all-stone construction too. So it was that Wright became possibly the first in the Northwest to use this modern material for a bridge when he decided that he needed access to his estate over the River Goyt from the direction of what is now Compstall.

At the turn of the 19th century the Salford Iron Works was a substantial Iron Foundry operated by James Bateman and William Sherratt. Their association with Wright began when they supplied him with a pumping engine for one of his coalmines in 1795. Sherratt was an engineer of considerable repute and it is easy to imagine him telling his friend Wright that he could build him a bridge of iron that would impress his peers. In 1813 he did just that when he constructed the slender and elegant cast iron carriage bridge with a personalised ‘W’ motif for Wright on his Brabyns estate. Despite sharing some similarities in design with several other cast iron bridges of the time this is the only one of its kind known to have been built by the Salford Iron Works.

Today the Brabyns Iron Bridge is a listed structure of national importance. As the only known surviving cast iron bridge of its kind in the Northwest it is now a unique example and is of particular importance because it has remained intact since its original construction without alteration or significant loss of fabric. The bridge survived in daily use with minimal maintenance until 1990, when a structural survey determined that it was at risk. In 1991 a Bailey bridge was erected across it as a temporary measure, allowing it to remain intact until the funds could be found to conduct proper repairs.

A contribution to ABC Wednesday.

Pink Parrot

Pink Parrot is a shop on Market Street in Marple between a greengrocer's and the cake shop "The Icing on the Cake".

The shop was shut when I went to take a look at it on Friday but according to their website "At Pink Parrot we attempt to bring individuality – unusual gift ideas and individual clothing by British and European designers, right through to Eastern-inspired garments, hippy chick and a romantic Gothic range."

A contribution to the Pink theme at City Daily Photo

Marple Canal Basin

Marple Canal Basin lies at the end of the Macclesfield canal.

The Macclesfield, one of the last narrow canals to be built was approved by Act of Parliament in April 1826. Thomas Telford surveyed the canal and construction was engineered by William Crosley. The completed canal was opened on 9th November 1831 at a cost of £320,000. It was bought out by the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincoln Railway in 1847. With nationalisation in 1947 it passed to the Docks & Inland Waterways Board with commercial carrying finishing only in the 1960s shortly before British Waterways was formed. The canal runs from Marple Junction with the Peak Forest Canal in the north 26¼ miles to the stop lock at Hall Green near Kidsgrove. Thanks to Telford's design for commercial traffic the Macclesfield Canal has a very shallow and tapered bottom. The deep channel is just wide enough for two boats to pass in the centre making mooring other than at wharves "challenging".

A contribution to Skywatch Friday.