Camp Ref CC2024-04

Note: This Camp now runs Sunday to Sunday.

The Manchester Bolton and Bury Canal Society hopes to reopen the entire route of the canal from the River Irwell in Salford, close to Manchester city centre, through to Bury and Bolton.  One of the biggest challenges is the site of a breached embankment, near to where the canal divided into the two arms to Bolton and Bury.

This section of canal has been closed since the disastrous burst in 1936.  The canal, where it runs high on the steep valley side, collapsed into the River Irwell, which runs on a similar route to the canal.  The breach has long been considered a major obstruction to restoration, but recently, in what has been called “the most important thing to happen to the Manchester Bolton and Bury Canal in many years” a housing development has been approved which (as part of its planning permission) will pay to repair the breach and reinstate 700 metres of canal.

With the breach repaired, there is the potential to reopen five miles from Radcliffe to Nob End and on towards Bolton. This could then be extended towards Bury, and also down the six locks leading south from the junction, reducing the gap between there and a restored length at the River Irwell end, bringing complete reopening closer.

The work on this Camp and the following week will be to rebuild a ‘bullnose’ – a semi-circular wall that forms the inside of a tight bend at Nob End where boats from Manchester turned sharp left to enter the Bolton branch of the canal. It will include bricklaying, blockwork, casting concrete ‘stones’ to replace missing coping stones, concrete backfilling and landscaping.