Beat Bank Branch Canal facts for kids

The Beat Bank Branch Canal was a canal that was started but never finished. It was planned to be built near Manchester, England. This canal was supposed to connect to the Stockport Branch Canal in a place called South Reddish. It was designed to be flat, meaning it wouldn't need any locks, but it would have a short tunnel.

The canal was meant to follow the land above the River Tame. It would go north first, then turn east, following the river's bends. The goal was for the canal to end near Beat Bank in Denton. This area had coal mines, so the canal would help transport coal from those mines, including ones at Haughton Green.

Why Was This Canal Built?

Canals were very important long ago for moving heavy goods like coal. They were like highways for boats. The people who owned the Ashton Canal wanted to build more canals to reach more places and transport more coal.

How the Canal Started

The idea for the Stockport Branch Canal and the Beat Bank Branch Canal came from an Act of Parliament in March 1793. This was just nine months after the main Ashton Canal was approved. This new law also allowed the building of the Hollinwood Branch Canal. The company was allowed to raise £30,000 to pay for all three of these new canals.

The Hollinwood branch opened in late 1796. The Stockport branch opened shortly after, in January 1797. But building the Beat Bank branch was much harder.

Problems Building the Canal

The Beat Bank branch was being built on a tricky clay slope next to the Tame Valley. This area was prone to land slipping, which made construction very difficult.

The Ashton Canal Company soon found that they were getting enough coal business from the Hollinwood Branch Canal and the Fairbottom Branch Canal. Because of the difficulties and the cost, they decided to stop working on the Beat Bank Branch Canal. They told William Hulton, who owned the coal mines in Denton, that they couldn't afford to finish the project.

Giving Up on the Canal

In 1798, another Act of Parliament was passed. This law allowed the Canal Company to raise more money and officially give up on the unfinished Beat Bank Canal. William Hulton, the mine owner, was against this. He even turned down an offer to take over the unfinished canal himself. But his efforts to stop the new law failed. Some of the money raised was used to pay people who owned land or property along the canal's path. They were paid for any damage or problems caused by the canal company's work.

What Was the Canal's Path?

Only a very small part of the Beat Bank Canal was ever filled with water. This short section was in Reddish and was sometimes called the Beat Bank or Reddish Private Branch.

Planned Route and Unfinished Parts

• Right after the short watered section, the plans showed a tunnel that would be about 110 yards (100 m) long. But this tunnel was never started.
• Beyond where the tunnel would have been, most of the canal's bed was dug out for about 0.6 miles (0.97 km).
• No work was done on the section between this dug-out part and where a reservoir was planned.
• Another section, about 1 mile (1.6 km) long, was built.
• However, the very last part of the canal, which was supposed to reach the coal mines, was never built.

What Remains Today?

Even today, you can still see parts of this unfinished canal. They are located along the Reddish Vale Allotments, to the right of Ross Lave Lane, and past the M60 motorway bridge. The engineers who built the M60 bridge actually used the same land contours as the original canal builders. Because of this, the motorway bridge cut through and separated parts of the old canal route.

Old maps also show what was left of the canal:

• The 1848 Ordnance Survey map shows about 300 yards (270 m) of canal running from the main junction towards where the tunnel was supposed to be. It's not clear what this part was used for.
• By 1893, only about half of that section was left.
• By 1907, an engineering factory had been built next to the railway. The remains of the canal at the old junction looked like little more than a wider part of the main canal.

Interesting Spots Along the Route

Even though it was never finished, you can still find places where the canal was planned or started. These points help us imagine where the canal would have gone.