This is an uncommon item - a single share certificate (No.2128) issued by the Rochdale Canal Company in 1801 to Josiah Ashton of Gooden Lane in the Parish of Bury N ... It was signed on issue by Ralph Shuttleworth on behalf of the Company, and then subsequently cancelled by a C R Dykes in 1894. The Rochdale Canal was one of 3 canals that were built to traverse the Pennines. It linked Manchester with Sowerby Bridge over a distance of 33 miles & was completed in 1804. The canal was a busy commercial route for the first half of the 19th century but declined towards the end of that century& the early part of the 20th century. It closed for traffic in 1952 but was restored in 2002.