IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Wentworth Close, STOCKPORT, SK6 6PZ

The boat has just ascended the second lock from the bottom. These locks were only restored in the 1970s after a long period of disuse and dereliction.

Marple Locks No 5. The balance beam in the foreground is attached to one of the two tail gates of the lock. Being very deep locks, the gates are very heavy, so in order to be workable by a single person, the beam needs to be similarly heavy, but carefully balanced. Ahead is Lock No 4. The Marple flight on the Peak Forest Canal consists of sixteen deep locks in a mile. The total fall (or rise) provided is 209ft 6in (almost 64 metres). The canal was opened to navigation by 1796 but not enough money remained to build these locks. A temporary tramway was installed and used until 1804, when the locks were completed.

In lock 4 of the Marple flight on the Peak Forest Canal

Marple Locks No 4, looking north-north-west towards Stockport and Manchester. This is the view seen with telephoto assistance from the footbridge by Lock No 5. The flight descends through Brabyns Wood. The Marple flight on the Peak Forest Canal consists of sixteen deep locks in a mile. The total fall (or rise) provided is 209ft 6in (almost 64 metres). The canal was opened to navigation by 1796 but not enough money remained to build these locks. A temporary tramway was installed and used until 1804, when the locks were completed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marple_Lock_Flight Image]

Lock number 4 is one of the 16 locks in the "Marple Flight" which raise the Peak Forest Canal by 209 feet (64m) over the course of a mile.

In the flight of 16 locks that lift the canal up and around Marple

This is from the other side of the canal to Roger May's image, and taken in about 1962, when the canal was more or less derelict. It's good to see how much work has been done there to restore it. I'm sorry about the poor quality, the image was scanned from a negative and then cleaned up a bit in Photoshop.

Marple Locks No 4, looking north towards Stockport and Manchester. The Marple flight on the Peak Forest Canal consists of sixteen deep locks in a mile. The total fall (or rise) provided is 209ft 6in (almost 64 metres). The canal was opened to navigation by 1796 but not enough money remained to build these locks. A temporary tramway was installed and used until 1804, when the locks were completed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marple_Lock_Flight

Marple Locks No 4, looking north towards Stockport and Manchester. Several lock gates had been left open by a descending boat crew. This is unacceptable practice, because if these gates are left open, and the top gate is leaking, the total draining of the pound above the lock (and even the pound above that) is possible in quite a short time, then the canal is impassable until water is replenished by controlled flow through the upper locks. All paddles should be lowered (NOT dropped!) and gates closed to minimise water loss. The Marple flight on the Peak Forest Canal consists of sixteen deep locks in a mile. The total fall (or rise) provided is 209ft 6in (almost 64 metres). The canal was opened to navigation by 1796 but not enough money remained to build these locks. A temporary tramway was installed and used until 1804, when the locks were completed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marple_Lock_Flight