Its main purpose was to carry coal from numerous local collieries to the many mills and factories in the neighbourhood of the Ashton Canal.

This canal was extensively used until about 1928 when trade began to decline rapidly due to competition from railways and roads.

Not only is it suffering from the effects of mining subsidence but also its line has been severed twice by the Manchester ring road, which would require the construction of aqueducts to cross it.

[5] The first part of the restoration has started, with a £100 million redevelopment scheme for Droylsden including housing, flats, restaurants, shops and offices, centred on a new marina which is connected to the line of the canal,[6] and which was opened in September 2008.

Over this length these features were once to be found, starting and ending with road bridges over the canal: Mention must be made of a neighbour of the pumping engine known as ‘Fairbottom Bobs’.

The water was pumped along a wooden flume for a distance of about 219 yards (200 m) and then discharged into the Fairbottom Branch Canal at Fenny Fields Bridge.