Direct routes from Manchester and the north west to the waterways of East Yorkshire were proposed in the mid 18th century, but it was not until 1794 that Acts were passed for both the Huddersfield Narrow Canal and the Rochdale Canal as alternative trans-Pennine routes to the Leeds & Liverpool Canal.
Despite a length of less than 20 miles, there were numerous engineering difficulties to overcome on the Huddersfield Narrow. The construction of Standedge Tunnel - the highest, longest and deepest canal tunnel in Britain - almost bankrupted the entire project with around 50 workers being killed during its construction.
The Huddersfield Narrow Canal was built for 70ft-long narrowboats, while the Huddersfield Broad Canal can take wider 57ft x 14ft craft, as used on the Calder & Hebble Navigation. Goods therefore had to be transhipped between the two at Huddersfield. This enforced double handling increased costs to unacceptable levels that were made the more so by the arrival of the Huddersfield & Manchester Railway. The canal was purchased by the railway, soon to become the London & North Western Railway, in 1844, and was used to help construct the new railway tunnel at Standedge. The canal and railway tunnels are connected by short shafts. Decline inevitably followed, and by the early 20th century, there was little traffic.
The impossible restoration - or not
The line was abandoned in 1944 but was retained as a water channel. In 1948, a party of Inland Waterways Association pioneers - among them Tom Rolt and Robert Aickman - took the boat Ailsa Craig from end to end. Their documented journey was to prove the last through the Standedge Tunnel for more than 50 years - but following a major restoration programme, the route is now once again open throughout.
After lying unused for over half a century, the awesome Standedge Tunnel and its bleak surroundings encapsulate within a glance how the Huddersfield Narrow Canal attracted the pessimistic epithet of 'the impossible restoration'.
But the impossible was proved to be possible in 2001. To find out more about taking your boat through Standedge Tunnel see our dedicated Standedge Tunnel pages.
