Ashton Canal but where?

[pearley]

Picked up a copy of Canals are My Life by Iris Bryce recently. It has this picture captioned Ashton Flight, near Manchester. I think it's lock number 10 and the open space on the left being where the Manchester City training centre is now. Anyone confirm this and what is the large factory in the background.

Edited November 27, 2016 by pearley

[chevron]

Clayton aniline worth a google looks like that building grew up near there

[pearley]

Wouldn't Clayton be behind the photographer?

[Greylady2]

Thats the mill is opposite to now Asda, its close to portland basin which was a canal ending re dug out and the building which is now the shop use to be a garage which i helped out in.

 

Quite strange seeing it as it use to be.

 

I might be very wrong though a lot of that area and mill buildings were knocked down and turned into a trading estate.

Edited November 27, 2016 by Greylady2

[Ian Mac]

Its either lock 10 or Lock 11 or 12 on the Ashton looking down onto the Clayton Aniline which was on the far side of Clayton Lane and next to the canal below lock 9 to lock 8 where a short arm goes into where the works was. This whole site is now the Manchester city training school. The Short arm was the draw point for the aniline water feed, originally. It was later used to house the charity boat now based in Ashton.
I'm going to say lock 12 because of the wooden fencing. I also think its 12 because of the strapping post above the lock. This is where the GMP training school building now is with a high fence and lots of cameras. Lock 11 has a stone wall along the towpath, I think. Lock 10 has high fence along the towpath. A housing estate has sprung up in the field now, and there is a high fence and lots of trees there now. I would expect to see the roof of Anchor Chemicals which was either side of lock 9 or The Bridge pub which is on Clayton lane. but the image is to poor.
The aniline had an arm going into the middle of works which joined the canal below lock 8, where the wide now is. You can see the traces of the towpath bridge works as you walk down the towpath.

[billh]

Photo taken from just below lock 13(Crabtree Lane), lock 12 ahead . Clayton Aniline Co. in the distance. Taken post about 1972 when Bradford Colliery disappeared, would have been very prominent above lock12. The open area to the left of the fence is now a police training establishment with its own houses for practising dealing with sieges and such. Previous to the open space there was a large foundry on the site, (not Eva Brothers Crabtree Forge, upstream of L13) There was a serious accident here, when canal water leaked into the works and went into a pour of molten iron and exploded, 1 fatality and several seriously injured.

Bill

 

ETA:

Of course it was post 1972, the canal wasn't re-opened until 1974!

Edited November 28, 2016 by billh

[billh]

The aniline had an arm going into the middle of works which joined the canal below lock 8, where the wide now is. You can see the traces of the towpath bridge works as you walk down the towpath.

The Clayton Arm served Hardman & Holden's chemical works before Clayton Aniline took over. Jim Hewitt's book "Adventures of the Nippy" gives fair detail of the arm including a story about acquiring an old boat from there and it's rather short trip out onto the main line, before it sank for the last time just above lock7.