Two commemorative Transport Trust Red Wheel plaques were unveiled yesterday at Posset Bridge along Marple Locks and Marple Aqueduct, on the Peak Forest Canals. The plaque awards mark both sites among Britains greatest transport heritage sites. Before the advent of the railways the nationwide canal system was the main means of transport for heavy goods.
The event was organised as part of the Revealing Oldknow's Legacy Heritage Lottery Funded Project. The plaques were unveiled by the President of the Transport Trust, the Hon. Sir William McAlpine Bt. Peter Stone, Trustee of Transport Trust and the Canal & River Trust Chief Executive Richard Parry were also present. Even Samuel Oldknow made an appearance!
It was a well attended event and invitees reflected the project's many partners and supporters including local Councillors, Heritage Lottery Fund, Marple Civic Society, Mellor Archaeological Trust, Stockport Council and volunteers who have been part of the project.
The first plaque was unveiled at Posset Bridge along the flight of sixteen locks which rise 109 feet over one mile from bottom lock to top lock. The construction of the steps leading down from Posset Bridge to the canal basin was part of the first major project that the civic society undertook in the early 1960's as part of the national regeneration of the nation's canal network.
The site of the second plaque unveiling was Marple Aqueduct. The aqueduct is Britain's tallest masonry-arched aqueduct (England's tallest aqueduct). This magnificent structure carries the canal 100 feet above the wooded River Goyt valley.
The event included a buffet lunch at Hyde Bank Farm and a trip on the Bell Boat across the Aqueduct
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