Pendlebury - Transport

Transport

Pendlebury is the starting point of the A666 (Bolton Road) road which runs through the district from its junction with the A6/A580 at the Pendlebury/Irlams o' th' Height boundary. This was the main route between Manchester and Bolton prior to the opening of the M61 motorway.

The Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal was opened in 1809 and during the 19th and early 20th century provided the main means of transporting the coal from the collieries. Many of the collieries set up tramways links to the canal. Coal was taken to Bolton, Bury, Radcliffe and Salford, and across the River Irwell to Manchester. As late as 1905 over half a million tons of coal a year was carried. Lengths of the canal subsided due to mining subsidence; maps from 1881-82 show areas of coal that ran beneath the canal that were bought by the canal company to safeguard it from subsidence. The canal became disused after 1924 and closed in 1961, though coal was still carried for a short distance in Bury until 1968. A canal restoration society was founded in 1987 and persuaded Bury, Bolton and Salford councils to protect the line of the canal from development - restoration was announced by British Waterways in 2002.

Pendlebury was served by Pendlebury railway station on the Manchester Victoria to Wigan line for over 80 years, until its closure on Saturday 1 October 1960 by British Railways due to low usage. Irlams o' th' Height station in the eastern extremity of the borough was closed for similar reasons five years earlier. Swinton railway station is located in Pendlebury, meaning that the town once had three railway stations within its boundaries.

Pendlebury, between Patricroft on the Manchester to Liverpool line and Clifton Junction until the Black Harry Tunnel collapse of 1953. The collapse caused five deaths and two houses disappeared from Temple Drive in Swinton - the line never reopened and much of its length is now a recreational footpath.