The Chartist meeting in August 1842, of many hundreds (described as a mob, armed with sticks and bludgeons) moved from Posset Bridge to Top Lock where they started dismantling the lock. They pulled the bolt out on which the door of the lock moves and threw the door across the canal, this stopped all navigation down the canal for 2 days. The mob, by now of 200-300, cheered when the taking down of the lock door was accomplished.
The Chartists were protesting at wage cuts imposed by factory owners. The man described as the leader of the mob at Marple, was Christopher Doyle of Manchester and the local delegate for the Chartists was Joseph Taylor of Marple Bridge.