Ashton Packet boat yard was set up on the site of the Ashton Moss Colliery on the Ashton Canal in the 1970s, following restoration and reopening of large sections of the Ashton and Peak Forest Canals.

The construction of the original Ashton Canal was completed in 1797 and provided essential infrastructure to transport goods to and from Manchester for many years. However, competition from rail and road transport contributed to its decline and eventual closure in 1963 when the Ashton Locks were in such poor condition they became inoperable.

By 1968 volunteers from the Peak Forest Canal Society were working to restore the Ashton Canal, part of the Cheshire Ring of Canals, and it eventually reopened in May 1974. Some of the volunteers took an interest in the interesting, old wooden maintenance boats, which themselves were badly in need of attention.

Following restoration of the Ashton Canal, British Waterways wanted to scrap the old maintenance boats, most of which were already in terrible condition and sunk or abandoned around the area. British Waterways were willing to let the volunteers have these boats – on the condition that they were taken out of the water and repaired. The restoration of these boats is what led to the development of Ashton Packet. The wooden narrowboats taken on and restored by the yard included:

Joel, initially a horse boat later fitted with a Kelvin 2 cylinder petrol paraffin engine. Built in 1918 by British Waterways at Gorton Tank on the now derelict Stockport Branch of the Ashton Canal. Joel was the maintenance boat for the local canals, delivering coal to pumping engines and new gates to locks for many decades.

Dove, an ex-Shropshire union fly boat which would have worked almost constantly to transport goods around the network as quickly as possible.

Both Joel and Dove were inside the mill at Portland Basin during the fire which destroyed the mill and badly damaged the boats. An iron column fell from the above floor of the mill and smashed through the hull of Joel, sinking it but ultimately saving it from further fire damage. Members of the Peak Forest Canal Society re-floated and towed the boats out of the mill and to the boatyard.

Medic, a 19th century horse boat bought from the Anderton Company in 1915 by the Great Central Railway.

Maria, a horse boat first built at Jink’s boatyard at top lock Marple in 1854 – one of the oldest surviving narrowboats. Maria transported lime and goods around the area for many years, for Buxton Lime Company and later for the Manchester Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway Company. The MS&L Railway owned the Bugsworth Canal complex and the Peak Forest and Ashton Canals, but had no rail route from the quarries at that time.

The boat yard initially started off as a slag heap and a bog, but members set to work to level the area and create the essential facilities required to start work on the restoration of Maria. Most members had full time jobs and families but worked tirelessly in their own time and using their own funds to restore these historically important wooden narrowboats, all of which still survive today.