Manchester and Salford Junction Canal entrance lock from the River
Irwell
Buddleia and other plants are taking over the site
and the beams are rotting
The bascule bridge was added when the site was restored in the 1980s.
The canal was first blocked in 1875
though much of its underground tunnel remains. It was built to provide
a cheap and convenient link from the
Irwell and the Manchester Bolton and Bury canal to the Rochdale canal,
and ended at the Bridgewater Basin
which is still there on a short arm from the Rochdale canal
My weight was enough to take the bridge more or less to the ground
at the other side, but it might go up too far
if I stepped off to get back on it again.