Managing the Macclesfield

Historical Canal Maps: NarrowBoat, Summer 2016

Richard Dean

Richard Dean studies an 1891 atlas of the railway-owned Macclesfield Canal.

To administer a transport undertaking such as a canal needs a convenient but accurate reference to basic infrastructure data such as distances, the position of locks, bridges, culverts, wharves etc, and the boundaries of land ownership. This was traditionally done by a large scale plan of the route, which was often prepared after the construction work was complete. Many examples survive among the records of the Canal & River Trust, which, although of varying scales and formats, all provide a wonderful historical record of long-vanished features. A similar approach was adopted by railways. Towards the end of the Victorian era their systems were largely complete, and many companies put in hand a programme of producing up-todate plans of their lines. Henry Fowler was the leading surveyor in this field, and the Manchester Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway contracted with his firm to prepare plans of all its lines, and the canals it owned. Using the favoured railway scale of two ch…

To read the full article…

…you need to be a subscriber to NarrowBoat. If you are, you can login here. If not, you can buy a subscription here . If you are having trouble logging in, please contact support at subscriptions@wwonline.co.uk.

Managing the Macclesfield featured image