Islington Branch Canal
Islington Branch Canal was a short offshoot of the Ashton Canal at Ancoats, in north‑west England. It joined the main line between locks 1 and 2 and was only about 1,034 yards (945 m) long. Despite its small size, it was an important industrial route with its own arm that led to private wharfs. The branch was lock‑free and was heavily used, carrying coal, sand and salt, and it had a scrap‑iron wharf and various works along its banks. One notable site at the head of the branch was Molineux, Webb & Company’s Flint Glass Works.
In 1801, Samuel Oldknow offered Edward Stelfox £50 toward building two lime kilns on the Ashton Canal, on the condition that limestone could be brought along the Peak Forest Canal. The exact site of these kilns isn’t known, but they may have been near Limekiln Lane on this branch.
From the junction with the Ashton Canal, the branch ran northwest, passed under Mill Street, then turned sharply and continued northeast. It remained in use until the 1950s, but gradually fell into decline; part of it stayed open and today British Waterways uses a yard there.
A number of factories and wharfs are shown on old maps. In 1851 there were coal wharves on both sides up to Mill Street, with undeveloped land on the east bank near the junction. That land became Albion Spindle Works by 1891, later housing a toy balloon works and a chain works in 1922. The chain works were gone by 1950, and the east wharf area became an engineering works. A paint works occupied much of the west wharves, and the engineering works expanded in the 1960s and remained active in 1969.
North of the bridge, the west bank had Wharf Street Cotton Mill and four coal wharves with weighing machines; the east bank had a coal wharf, a fire brick yard, another coal wharf, and a side arm that turned back toward Mill Street. By 1891 the area between Mill Street bridge and the side arm became a wire works with a small tramway, and the arm was filled in. Later, the area saw mixed use, including an engineering works and a clothing factory by 1951, with lift equipment made there in 1953.
The area north of Mill Street bridge was largely redeveloped by the 1970s and 1980s. The end of the basin hosted the Manchester Flint Glass Works, and the eastern side of the basin began as a brick field that later became a site for bedstead and safe works, electric engineering works, and St Jude’s Church. By 1891 the glass works had expanded over former docks, and by 1951 the northern area included a shirt factory, the Corporation Cleansing Department’s garage, and cylinder grinding and welding works. The maps from the 1970s and 1980s show the area as mostly redeveloped.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 11:58 (CET).