The canal opened in 1800, but it was not until 1804 that Marple locks were finally completed. It runs for a little under 15 miles from Dukinfield Junction on the Ashton Canal to Bugsworth Basin, with a short spur to Whaley Bridge.
Stone was brought down the hillsides to Bugsworth Basin by a plateway, a flat iron surface upon which broad-wheeled trucks were kept in line by L-shaped uprights, and then taken by boat to Manchester. By the end of the 19th century the basin was handling over 600 tons of limestone per day. Other cargoes included coal, cotton, grain and manufactured goods, with commercial traffic continuing on the canal until 1959, though Bugsworth Basin had closed in 1926.
The canal is in two distinct parts. The upper section, one of the highest summits in the country, runs along the valley of the River Goyt and the lower along that of the River Tame. Separating the two is Benjamin Outram's splendid stone Marple Aqueduct together with its slightly higher railway viaduct neighbour running parallel. At Marple Junction the Macclesfield Canal, 30 years junior to the Peak Forest line, is encountered. Between the junction and the aqueduct is the magnificent flight of 16 locks rising over 210 feet (64m).
The Peak Forest Canal has long been associated with the Ashton and Macclesfield Canals, as all three were in common ownership of the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway prior to nationalisation of the canals after World War II. Following a period of dereliction in the 1960s, restoration was begun by local volunteers and the length between Marple and Dukinfield was reopened along with the Ashton Canal in 1974. This now forms part of the Cheshire Cruising Ring.
