Elton Tramroad

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Elton Tramroad is something of a mystery. It was built in the second half of the nineteenth century and was in use until the early twentieth century. The tramway started at the side of the canal about 1.3 kilometres (just less than a mile) south of the site of the former canal wharfs at Bury Bridge, and there was a mooring point and a canalside crane for unloading barges.
The tramway crossed a field on the towpath side of the canal then crossed the river Irwell and extended over a flat area of ground on the other side of the river, which was approximately 5 metres (15 feet) below the level of the canal. The total length of the tramway was about 125 metres (400 feet) and it was single track apart from a short section at the canal end, where it branched into two.
The area on the far side of the river was used as a waste tip and the level of the heap is up to that of the canal towpath, i.e. the tip is 'full'.
Thus the tramroad appears to have been built purely to dispose of waste but there is no documentary evidence of where the waste came from or its composition.

The sketch map to the right shows the location of Elton Tramway.
It can be reached by walking north along the Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal towpath from the bridge where Hinds Lane crosses it, for approximately 250 metres (800 feet). (Hinds Lane becomes Warth Fold Road and joins Bury Road just South of the map.)
Alternatively, approaching from the opposite direction it is 200 metres (630 feet) south of where the canal is first in water.

Looking down at the towpath, at the side away from the canal, you will see two mooring stones about 12 metres (40 feet) apart, for tying barges up.
The one to the north still has the corroded remains of an iron shackle while the southern one has a circular recess which would have held an iron ring.

Looking into the field on the towpath side of the canal at this point, a mound is visible where the tramway turned to the right to cross the river. Originally it ran on a low embankment for most of the way across this field, presumably to allow waste to be piled up to a greater height at the other end.

From the embankment of Elton reservoir nearby it is possible to look down onto the route of the tram road, which can be made out as a slight change in surface level, and is shown ringed in this photograph.

The tramway then crossed the river Irwell on a bridge. Although this has long since gone, there is a large block of masonry in the river, near the bank on the canal side, which appears to be part of the bridge's supporting pier, and has a length of railway track set into it near the top. The riverbank is reinforced with stone walls on both sides along this length.

The tramway ended at the southwest corner of this waste heap, reached from Openshaw Fold Road via the tunnel under the Metrolink line.
To appreciate its size you really need to climb one of the paths up the side of the heap and look along its length. It is now used as a motorcycle scrambling track but the sparsity of vegetation on top indicates a lack of normal soil.

The drawing below is a larger scale plan of the tramroad, showing how it began on an embankment next to the canal, crossed the field, turned to the right then crossed the river on a bridge before overhanging the waste tip.

The waste heap is approximately 150 metres long by 33 metres wide by 3 to 4 metres high (500 feet x 110 feet x 10-12 feet). It is flat topped with steep sides and the total weight of material in it will be in the region of 40,000 tonnes. The Ordnance Survey 25" map of 1908 shows it at almost its current extent, though its height is not recorded.
The substance exposed where the sides have been eroded consists of granular aggregates of a coarse powder, off-white or ochre in colour, and containing a large amount of a carbonate, probably calcium carbonate (chalk). Limestone is used as a raw material in several industrial processes but would normally be used up rather than being dumped as waste.

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