The Hay Incline Plane is a drop of 207 feet from the section of the Shropshire Canal at the top to Coalport at the bottom.
For more than 100 years, between the 1790s and 1980s, coal, iron and other products of the local industries were moved down to the Coalport Canal at the bottom of the incline to be taken, from there, onto the River Severn and transported to all parts of the country. Six of these canal inclines were built in this area between 1791 and 1797. The Hay Incline Plane is the only one which survives and is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
The Incline generally worked by counterbalancing but, when no counterbalance weight was available, other power had to be used. In 1791, when the Incline was first in use, horses were used to power it. By 1793 a steam engine had been installed in a brick engine house the remains of which can be seen at the top of the Incline.
The last use of the incline is thought to have been in 1894.
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