Bealeys Tramway
This was a private affair instigated and owned by A.C. Bealey & Sons, bleachers and dyers, whose works stood on
Dumers Lane. In the early years of the 19th century, one of the main raw materials was rock salt and this had to be brought into
Radcliffe by canal barges as far as Hagside Wharf on the Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal. From the wharf, horse-drawn carts
carried the commodity to the works. About 1850, the firm laid a single line standard gauge railway from the works' yard to
Hagside Wharf, crossing Dumers Lane on the level, and proceeding northwards and under Bury Road. Contemporary maps indicate the
line as 'tramway', suggesting, perhaps, that the gauge was not standard but narrow.
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the East Lancashire Railway
The original public line through Radcliffe was part of a plan in 1844 by The Manchester, Bury & Rossendale
Railway to build a line from Clifton (where it joined the Manchester & Bolton Railway line from Salford to Bolton) to Bury. The line was planned to continue northwards to reach Rawtenstall via Ramsbottom. At about the same time, another company, The Blacburn, Burnley, Accrington & Colne Extension Railway planned to continue the line from Stubbins Junction (between Ramsbottom and Rawtenstall) northwards to meet the west to east Preston to Burnley route at Accrington. The two companies amalgamated 24th July 1845 to form the East Lancashire Railway, with the line (Clifton to Rawtenstall) being completed and opened for traffic on Monday the 28th September 1846.
"Along the line from Clifton Junction to Bury were several stations. Molyneux Brow was little more than a halt;
Ringley Road and Outwood Colliery sidings were always busy; Radcliffe Bridge had a cattle dock but the main goods depot was built
further along the line (this site is now occupied by the Coney Green Comprehensive School); Radcliffe North, near Withins, built
ostensibly for the colliery village of Bank top, died as early as 1852." (ref. 'Oxen, Oat-Cake and Ale' by Fred Campbell, page 20)
Molyneux Brow is outside our remit of history local to Radcliffe and the other townships of Bury Metro.
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Ringley Road
Ringley Road Station was opened by the ELR on 31st May 1847. It was set in a semi-rural area lying south west of
Radcliffe and was the second station after leaving Clifton Junction .
The station was located adjacent to Ringley Road and Wood Street in Radcliffe's district of Outwood. Two lengthy
platforms comprised the modest facility, sited in a deep cutting, overlooked on the east by Outwood Colliery brickworks in LYR and
LMS days, and little else save two rows of terraced houses - "Yew Tree Houses". A long footpath connected the Down platform with
Ringley Road and the top end of Wood Street, whilst the Up side could be gained by use of a subway at the southern end of the
station.
One wonders why a station existed there at all in such a sparsly populated area, but its function was to serve the
Outwood area generally which contained a scatter of residential properties and much industry. (This was probably the local
station for my ancestors in the hamlet of Bottom O'Th'Fields - JH.)
Although the line has long since closed, the track lifted, and the track-bed converted to a combined footpath and
bridleway, the site of the station can still easily been found as a mock platform with plaque has been erected on the site by Bury
Metro as part of their 'Outwood Trail'.
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Radcliffe North
Built in 1846, and closed 1851 (Fred Campbell - below - suggests 1850), this station seems to be referred to by a
number of names; Bank Top, Withins (Lane), Radcliffe North, and Hagside (really the name of the near-by level crossing and signal
box). It was situated on the Clifton to Bury line at the point where an iron hogsback bridge carried a lane over the line from
Bury Road to Yew Trees Farm.
ref. 'Oxen, Oat-Cake and Ale' by Fred Campbell, East Lancashire Railway Co. map page 17 shows 'Withins Lane
Station'.
Just north of here was Hagside Colliery and a hamlet knowns as Bank Top. Follow this link for more detail of
Bank Top and a picture of the unusual iron lattice girder bridge over the River Irwell.
Bank Top must have had a fair population for when the East Lancashire Railway arrived in 1846 it was
favoured with a station named Radcliffe North. For some reason, however, it appears to have been little used for after only four
years it was closed. (ref. 'An Intimate Look a Bury's Old Canal' by Fred Campbell first published by Bury & District Local History
Society 1977; and later re-published by the Manchester, bolton & Bury Canal Society some time after it's formation in 1987.
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Radcliffe (New) Central Station
The L&YR's line between Manchester Victoria and Bury via Whitefield and Prestwich originated in the New Line Act
of July 18th 1872 which included a new station, known as Radcliffe New Station and a link from a junction, just south of the
station, bearing north west to Bradley Fold Junction (the Bradley Fold Extension). A later L&YR Act of June 21st 1877 authorised
the provision of a west-north fork between West Junction and North Junction. The use of these lines was sanctioned and a
steam-hauled service began on 1st September 1879 bewteen Manchester Victoria and Bury, calling at Crumpsall, Heaton Park,
Prestwich, Whitefield and Radcliffe. (It wasn't till 3rd March 1913 that the station of Woodlands Road opened, followed by
Besses o'th' Barn 1st February 1933, and finally Bowker Vale on September 26 1938.) The Radcliffe Junction to Bradley Fold link
and the West Fork were also opened to traffic by December 1st 1879.
