Mill and Canal

Photographs of the Macclesfield Canal showing working boats are scarce and I have been seeking a view of a boat associated with the fireclay traffic for some time. The best I have managed so far is this newspaper photograph from 1934 which was taken from Sugar Lane bridge in Adlington looking toward the Clarence Mill in Bollington. If you look closely at the canal near to the chimney it appears that there is a boat there, probably bringing in coal for the boilers. Nearer to the camera is a boat at the wharf for the Clarence fireclay mine operated by John Hall & Son (Dukinfield) Limited which supplied their works in Dukinfield with up to six 18 ton boatloads of clay per week. Clay, and a small amount of coal, was brought from the mine off in the fields to the left in tubs and tipped down chutes into the boat. The boat is most likely to be named "Benefactor" as this was a regular on this run at the time. The mine closed in 1938.