Portland Basin

Dukinfield Junction
The Portland Basin warehouse
Specifications
Status	Open
Navigation authority	Canal & River Trust
History
Date completed	1800
Date closed	1962
Date restored	1974

Dukinfield Junction (grid reference SJ933984) is the name of the canal junction where the Peak Forest Canal, the Ashton Canal and the Huddersfield Narrow Canal meet near Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, England. The area has been designated by Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council as a conservation area.

It is adjacent to Portland Basin, and the names are often used as synonyms by boaters, whilst locals refer only to Portland Basin. Strictly speaking, Portland Basin is the wide area on the main line of the canal. The arm under the junction bridge and the aqueduct over the River Tame were built by the Ashton Canal, and the junction with the Peak Forest canal was historically at the southern end of the aqueduct.

The Ashton Canal was authorised by an Act of Parliament obtained in 1792, to connect the coal mining area around Oldham and the textile mills of Ashton-under-Lyne to Manchester. It was heavily-locked, with 18 locks in 6.5 miles (10.5 km). During construction, the company obtained a second Act to allow them to build the Hollinwood Branch Canal, the and the Beat Bank Branch Canal. The line to Ashton and the branch to Hollinwood were both opened in December 1796, and the Stockport Branch opened in January 1797, but the Beat Bank Branch was never completed.