Lock Number 6 on Ashton Canal, Forge Lane, Manchester, Greater Manchester
This was lock No. 6 on the Ashton Canal. The canal was to run from Manchester to Ashton Under Lyne with a branch towards Oldham. The Act to allow this was passed in 1792. Most of the main line was ready by about 1796. In 1799 the Ashton was extended from Ancoats into Manchester, Piccadilly, where in 1800 it made the Ducie Street junction with the Rochdale Canal. When completed the Ashton main line was 6 1/4 miles long. The Ashton worked in close harmony with the Peak Forest and the Huddersfield, the closest ties existing with the Peak Forest passenger packet services. The opening of the Macclesfield Canal and the Cromford and High Peak Railway, both in 1831, brought more traffic to the Ashton, as did the Sheffield, Ashton Under Lyne & Manchester Railway, coming in 1841. However improved road services after 1919 hastened the canal's end. By 1960 it was quite impassable. In 1968 a restoration programme for the Ashton was started by the Peak Forest Canal Society and the Inland Waterways Association. In 1971 the British Waterways Board promised full restoration and in 1974 the Ashton was reopened as part of the 'Cheshire Ring'.
