Wooden canal boats are a crucial part of the waterway heritage.
Their design and methods of construction have changed little throughout the history of the canal system. The only major change from the early days has been the introduction of powered craft. Only a few representatives of these important boats survive and the skills and facilities necessary for their construction and maintenance are ebbing away.

The point of the Heritage Boatyard project is to
address these problems in the following ways:-

1) Providing a place where historic wooden canal boats
can be restored and maintained in appropriate
surroundings using traditional methods.

2) Creating a bank of appropriate tools for use in wooden
canal boat restoration and maintenance.

3) Preserving the crucial skills needed for work
on historic wooden canal boats.

4) Providing training in the necessary skills
for wooden boat restoration.

5) Introducing the public, and especially young people
to the history and traditions of wooden canal boats
and the crafts associated with their restoration and maintenance.

The intention is to reverse the neglect and decline of the national fleet of wooden canal boats and reinstate them as a valued and important facet of waterway heritage.

This old plan of our boatyard shows the viaduct (now demolished) running diagonally over the site. It shows one large L shaped building once a bakery and one small square shaped building. We would like to hear from anyone who can tell us more.

The boatyard occupies a site on Knowl St, Stalybridge, Manchester, where the Micklehurst loop railway crossed the
Huddersfield narrow canal.

The early days. Now we are working towards excavating this section to canal level and building our yard

Heritage yard progress