Reflections on the canal at Woodley

Last week we celebrated our son's 34th birthday and escaped the aftermath of the election by taking a trip down the Peak Forest Canal from Ashton to Romiley aboard Community Spirit, a narrowboat operated by the East Manchester Community Boat Project

Here we are approaching the railway viaduct at Woodley beyond which is the Woodley Tunnel.

You can see a map showing the location of 61 photographs I took that day and view them as a slideshow on Geo-trips.

A contribution to Weekend Reflections and Scenic Weekends.

St Mark's in the rain

I last featured the church of St Mark's, Bredbury and Woodley in June 2014. This time it was raining heavily and I got raindrops on the lens as I photographed the lych gate.

I used the shelter of the lych gate to photograph the church. St Mark's is a Grade II listed building which was built 1847-8 by Shellard for the Church Commissioners with dressed stone, ashlar and slate roofs.

Visit the Church website for details of its current activities.

A contribution to Inspired Sundays and Blue Monday.

Alice on the Peak Forest Canal

Alice has just passed under bridge #11 and is heading home to Ashton under Lyne.

Alice is sister to Mary whom I showed you on 10th June.

Visit other contributions to the Celebrating Summer theme at City Daily Photo.

Also a contribution to
Ruby Tuesday;
Our World Tuesday;
Outdoor Wednesday;
Water World Wednesday.

St Mark's Church, Bredbury and Woodley

The lych gate of St Mark's church. On the left is Redhouse Lane. On the right is the A560, Stockport Road East. The church lies between the two roads and serves the joint parish of Bredbury and Woodley. At this time of year a view of the church itself is blocked by the trees.

St Mark's is a Grade II listed building which was built 1847-8 by Shellard for the Church Commissioners with dressed stone, ashlar and slate roofs. It has a 3-sided gallery plan with a small chancel and a west tower flanked by entrance bays. There is a 5-bay nave and aisles without clerestory, projecting stone plinth, sill band, eaves band, coped parapet and coped gables with octagonal corner pinnacles. Each bay has paired lancets with colonnettes and a weathered gableted buttress (angled at corners).

The 5-stage tower has set-back buttresses which are transformed at the fifth stage in octagonal corner columns to rise as ornate pinnacles. There is a clock in the third stage and 2-light belfry openings with clock and parapet above.

I showed you a close-up of the clockface in last Wednesday's post.

The flag of St George is flying on top of the tower. Next to it is what I think is a CCTV camera.

Visit the Church website for details of its current activities.

A contribution to Inspired Sundays.

Peak Forest Canal: Reflections and Shadows

From the bridge overlooking Manor View, Woodley.

A contribution to Weekend Reflections and Shadow Shot Sunday.

Entrance to Robert Walker (Haulage) Ltd

The entrance off Hall Lane to Robert Walker (Haulage) Ltd which occupies the site of what was once Woodley Hall.

The yellow AA sign "Private works traffic only" is a vintage sign.

A contribution to
signs, signs;
Good Fences.

X marks the time

A close-up view of the NW quadrant of the clockface on the south side of the tower of St Mark's church at Woodley.

A contribution to the letter X at ABC Wednesday.

Woodley Tunnel

At Woodley the Peak Forest Canal passes through a 176yd (153m) tunnel. The towpath also passes through, protected by a handrail.

This is taken from just inside the southern portal. I'm informed that halfway along the tunnel the towpath is very muddy so I haven't actually made the journey through.

A contribution to
Our World Tuesday;
Water World Wednesday.

Woodley Methodist Church

The original Primitive Methodist Church in Woodley was built in 1868. It was replaced by this modern building in the 21st century.

My thanks go to Mark Bradshaw for this photograph of the original church in 1996 and for the one below which shows Woodley Methodist church with Woodley British School behind and what would be Bankfield Road School to the right of the Methodist Chapel which was on Chapel Street.

Here is a link to the Church website.

A contribution to Inspired Sunday.

Caution No Fishing

A warning about overhead power cables by the Peak Forest Canal.

A contribution to signs, signs.

Mary at Woodley

The narrowboat "Mary" approaching Gravel Bank Bridge on the Peak Forest Canal at Woodley.

Mary is one of two 32 foot long narrowboats available for day hire from the Portland Basin Marina in Ashton under Lyne.

The section of the canal from Ashton to Marple is lock free and therefore relatively easy to navigate.

A contribution to Ruby Tuesday;
Our World Tuesday;
Outdoor Wednesday;
Water World Wednesday.

Reflections in the Peak Forest Canal

Near the boundary between Apethorn (Hyde) and Pole Bank (Woodley).

A contribution to Weekend Reflections and Scenic Weekends.

U is for Unity Mill

Unity mill was constructed in the 1860s for spinning cotton and was formerly known as Trianon Mill. By the 1890s it had converted to a rubber works but later was converted back again to a textile mill. The site has been used for the manufacture of products for the food, animal feed and brewing sector until it closed in December 2003. It occupies an area to the east of Woodley between Pole Acre and the Peak Forest Canal.

A former canal basin behind the mill is thought to have been built to serve the Hall Lane Colliery, established pre 1829. The wharf was later associated with the Mill. Although the canal bank is overgrown the outline of the basin is extant.

The buildings are decaying whilst the owners hold out for a sale or planning permission that might ensure a profitable conversion of the site.

A contribution to ABC Wednesday.

Holly House, Woodley

Holly House on Hyde Road, Woodley is a grade II Listed Building currently home to a dental practice and a chiropractic clinic.

It is constructed of Flemish bond brick with a graduated stone slate roof. The 2 storey building has a projecting brick plinth and corner pilasters and a bracketed eaves gutter. The central doorway has a 4-panel door with interlaced fanlight, moulded imposts and keystone. The 5 windows which are all 20th century casements have stone sills and timber lintels.

The modern advertising panels and red security metal roller blinds are distinctly non-18th century.

It has been home to a string of failed companies including Herbert Watson International Ltd, Herbert Watson Travel Ltd, Latafoam, Speculex, Capeready and Deltasteer.

It carries a date stone of 1755 with the initials SHA.

A contribution to Ruby Tuesday;
Our World Tuesday;
signs, signs.

Spring comes to Woodley

The cherry tree in Woodley precinct is blossoming.

A contribution to Our World Tuesday.

Woodley Viaduct

The viaduct at Woodley is a bit of a hidden wonder insofar as there isn't a vantage point (as far as I'm aware) from which one can see the whole of it.

This view from Manor Road is looking at the eastern end of the viaduct as it crosses Hyde Road.


Here now is the view looking from Manor Road through the archway towards Hyde Road.

After Manor Road the next archway crosses the Peak Forest Canal. You can see the underside of it on the photograph I posted in July 2009 on Ackworth born, gone West.


On the day I took these photographs I had walked down Manor Road and crossed the canal using Bridge #12, which I showed here on 28th September. I then walked back to Hyde Road along Bankfield Road, crossing under the fourth arch. This view is looking back at the viaduct.

The railway used to be the main line from Woodley to Stockport (Tiviotdale) and points West, but now it terminates at a nearby industrial area.

A contribution to Sunday Bridges at San Francisco Bay Daily Photo.

Bridge #12

Bridge #12 on the Peak Forest Canal at Woodley.

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

K is for Kiddi-Winks

A day nursery located on Bankfield Road, next to the Peak Forest Canal at Woodley.

More information can be found on their website.

A contribution to ABC Wednesday.

Woodley Station

This is a black and white view of Woodley Station in 2013. It was opened on 5 August 1862 by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway and later became a junction when a line from Stockport Tiviot Dale opened in 1865. The station subsequently became jointly owned and operated by the MS&L, Great Northern Railway and Midland Railway as part of the Cheshire Lines Committee system. The Stockport route closed to passengers in January 1967, although a short section at the eastern end remains in use for goods traffic (serving a Tarmac stone terminal and the waste recycling plant at Bredbury - the one that caught fire ten days ago! - see Fire behind McDonald's).

It was once a busy line that ran to Macclesfield and beyond but now there is just an half-hourly service from Manchester Piccadilly to Rosehill (Marple).

Compare it with scene below taken in 1989.

The old station buildings have been sold off and are private houses. Note how the windows on the station side have been blocked off. The train running today, a two coach diesel unit, is much the same as the one in 1989.

  © Copyright Peter Whatley and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

A contribution to The Weekend in Black and White and Scenic Weekends.

Who wants to lease a loo?

A victim of "council cuts" are the public conveniences at Woodley.

They are available for lease! Any takers? Seeming not; they been like this for more than a year.

A contribution to signs, signs.