Hag Footbridge

A view of the swingbridge remains from the footbridge over the Macclesfield Canal in Lyme Handley, south of Poynton. The construction of a footbridge as well as a swing bridge in this rural location is a bit of a mystery. The Macclesfield Canal was never so busy that the walker would have been waiting for very long before the bridge was swung back to allow them to continue on their way. The field beyond the hedge is filled with coal workings and there is a shaft off to the left alongside the canal, so there would probably have been a certain amount of coal traffic across the swingbridge in the early years of the canal, but this would have petered out by the end of the 1830s. The swingbridge remained in use until 1971 when it was summarily removed by British Waterways.