In the Beginning
A surge of change was sweeping through the economies and industries of Lancashire and Yorkshire as the eighteenth century drew to a close. The Industrial Revolution had taken hold and was impelling a relentless growth of population, manufacturing and trade.
In response to this expansion a number of waterways, both improved rivers and artificial cuts, had already been completed in these regions, but these navigations had developed in two distinct systems, separated by the natural barrier of the Pennine hills. The advantages of building a connecting waterway across this formidable obstacle were obvious to contemporaries, but the sheer physical task that would be involved had, by the early 1790's, deterred all but the proprietors of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Authorised in 1770, this pursued a tortuously indirect course through Burnley and Skipton and was still far from complete.
In 1792 the necessary will and capital were mustered in the promotion of two further schemes to cut a more direct route through the hills. However, Bills for both these, the Rochdale Canal which aimed to link Manchester with the Calder and Hebble Navigation at Sowerby Bridge and a similarly planned scheme emanating from the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Company, soon floundered in Parliament. The revival of one or both of these projects was predictable, but in the meantime the way was clear for a further enterprise.
Through this window of opportunity stepped a new group of promoters, a proportion of whom were shareholders of the Ashton Canal Company. This concern had been authorised in 1792 to connect the thriving town of Ashton-under-Lyne with the nearby city of Manchester, but its potential as the western extremity of a very direct waterway into the West Riding was quickly grasped. By making use of the valleys of the Rivers Tame and Colne the two counties could be connected by a shorter line than that recently proposed via Rochdale.
This process of thinking was far from rational, however, as bestriding the watershed at the mid-point of the route being considered was Standedge, a grim area of high moorland set in the Pennines. It would be necessary to tunnel under this for several miles and such a project would be fraught with unpredictable hazards. However, the shares of the Ashton company were at a high premium, reflecting the success of the concern, while the emerging canal mania of investors nationwide, who were coming to regard waterway projects as profitable investments, was set to fuel speculative interest in the new scheme.
Interest was quickly fanned into enthusiasm. The proposed route was to make a connection at Huddersfield with Sir John Ramsden's Canal which had been opened in 1776 to link the Calder and Hebble Navigation at Cooper Bridge with this rapidly developing West Riding town. Huddersfield was an appropriate location for a public meeting on the proposed scheme and on 30th May 1793 a gathering of interested parties was duly convened here.
Those assembled were sufficiently optimistic to disregard the likely difficulties of constructing a Standedge line and the possibility of competition from a revived scheme via the Rochdale route, and promised £150,000 of the estimated £200,000 that would be required for execution of the project. An engineer's report of the scheme and a survey of the route were also commissioned.
The Making of the Canal
Pack horses had been using a similar course to the proposed canal line for centuries to transport goods across the Pennines as the shortest route between the east and west coasts.
Work camps were established at various strategic locations to house the numerous craftsmen and labourers. These were the original navigators, later abbreviated to 'navvies' - not Irish as some may presume, but local lads who were rough and ready.Following an Act of Parliament on 4th April 1794, the newly formed Huddersfield Canal Company appointed Derbyshire man Benjamin Outram as its engineer. Nicholas Brown was taken on as Superintendent - a strange appointment as he had no canal experience.
Construction work started simultaneously on both sides of the Pennines and on the Standedge Tunnel. Although progress on the tunnel was painstakingly slow, by the end of 1798 the canal was opened for business from Huddersfield to Marsden and Ashton to Dobcross. A series of 74 locks along its 19.75 mile length raises the canal to a height of 645 feet A.O.D. making it Britain's highest canal.
The Standedge Tunnel continued to be a formidable obstacle and drain on resources. Following a period of ill health, Outram resigned in 1801 (d. 1805) and John Rooth was appointed Superintendent. New life was injected into the project when Thomas Telford was appointed in 1806 to finalise the work, eventually leading to the tunnel being officially opened in 1811, allowing through navigation for the first time between Huddersfield and Ashton-under-Lyne.
Standedge Tunnel is now listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the highest (645 ft AOD), longest (3 miles 406 yards - 5200m) and the deepest (638 feett) canal tunnel in the country, and is a monument to those 19th century canal pioneers.
The Working Years
The Huddersfield Narrow carried a wide variety of commercial freight and merchandise - similar to that which is transported on Britain's road and rail networks today. It was a major leap forward in cargo handling as, for example, in the movement of coal, one boat could carry the same quantity as a fleet of horse drawn carts.
As with other canals, good and ample water supplies were crucial to its operation. Although supplied by ten reservoirs, the Huddersfield Narrow suffered on numerous occasions periods of drought. One summer, the canal had to close for 39 days, prompting the Company to continue its search for other water resources.
At the opposite end of the scale, severe Pennine winters hindered boat movements due to heavy frost and thick ice which forced closure for weeks at a time. Canal-side huts were built to enable ice locked boaters and their families facilities to keep warm and dry.
With increased competition from the Rochdale Canal and the emergent railway companies, freight rates were continually reduced. Whilst this increased the amount of traffic on the canal, it had the effect of reducing or even halting the payment of dividends to share holders, which led to a take-over offer from the railway company being eagerly accepted.
The Railways
By 1844 canal freight rates had been lowered to such an extent that it was uneconomical to continue. As early as May 1844 agreement was reached to sell the Company to the railway, and in 1845 the canal was incorporated into the Huddersfield and Manchester Railway and Canal Company. This amalgamation was short lived, when in 1847 it became part of the London and North Western Railway Company.
The railway followed the line of the canal, including the requirement for a route through the Pennine hills. Two single tunnels were constructed; the first opened in 1849 and at 3 miles 62 yards long, was the longest in the world. The second, and its twin, opened in 1871. Both the rail and canal tunnels are inter-connected by passages, adits and cross headings. As rail traffic increased, a double track tunnel was constructed which opened in 1894 and is the only one of the three currently in use.
As railway traffic increased, canal business declined to a few local deliveries. The last recorded commercial cargo taken through Standedge Tunnel was in November 1921, which eventually led to the canal being closed by Act of Parliament in 1944.
The railway itself did not escape certain closures. The London Midland Scottish Railway which absorbed the L.N.W.R. in the mid 1920's lost several of its stations and lines during Dr. Beeching's railway closures in the 1960's. The two single tunnels, now only used for maintenance and emergencies, fell under this axe, but prior to removing the track, trials took place to gain technical information to assist with the construction of the Channel Tunnel - being of a similar nature and configuration.
The practicality of re-opening the routes through the single tunnels are part of a wider consultation exercise in efforts by the rail companies to increase rail traffic across the Pennines.
Closure and Dereliction
Following its official closure in 1944 and nationalisation, the canal came under the jurisdiction of the British Transport Commission, and in 1962 by the newly formed British Waterways Board.
The last recorded passage of a boat along the entire length of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal was in 1948 by canal pioneer Robert Aikman on his cabin cruiser 'Ailsa Craig', reputed to be a converted lifeboat from the liner 'S. S. Mauritania'.
In the 1950's, lock gates were removed and replaced by concrete weir planks, bridges were also lowered and sections of canal sold off to businesses and local authorities. Several routes through town centres were completely obliterated, the main ones being Stalybridge and Slaithwaite.
In the 1970's, the majority of the lock chambers were 'landscaped' to make them safe for the public as individual leisure time increased and the canal started to take the form of a linear park.
With the numerous blockages, little movement in the water, the canal silted up badly, and in many places the canal was a convenient illegal rubbish tip used by all and sundry.
The main reservoir supplies were taken over for domestic use by the water authorities with an agreement to supply the canal with the equivalent of nine lock fulls of water per day. As supplies from the Huddersfield Narrow fed the Ashton and Lower Peak Forest Canals and industries along its route, this in itself preserved the canal from total abandonment. The canal is currently designated a 'Remainder Waterway', which places a statutory obligation on British Waterways to maintain it as a water supply.Restoration Work
Closed and abandoned in 1944, and later classified as a remainder waterway, the canal became derelict. Rescue was at hand when volunteers from the Huddersfield Canal Society instigated restoration work in the early 1980's. Through the work of the Society's restoration subsidiary, HCS Restoration Ltd, and the Local Authorities, over three quarters of the canal was made navigable, however, only the section from Ashton to Stalybridge was connected to the national canal network.
The final phase of restoration - to remove the remaining obstructions, has been undertaken by the Huddersfield Canal Company. A programme of works costing over £30m has successfully delivered the restoration programme, on time and on budget.
For Health & Safety reasons and in particular, hazardous diesel fumes from both boats and trains in the Standedge Tunnels, British Waterways tows boats through the tunnel in convoy with an electric tug. A glass enclosed passenger module travels behind the tug and is large enough to accommodate all the boat crews in comfort during their journey (up to 3 hours) through this unique tunnel.
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