The Macclesfield Canal is a canal in east Cheshire, England. There were various proposals for a canal to connect the town of Macclesfield to the national network from 1765 onwards, but it was not until 1824 that a scheme came to fruition. There were already suggestions by that date that a railway would be better, but the committee that had been formed elected for a canal and the engineer Thomas Telford endorsed the decision. The canal as built was a typical Telford canal, constructed using cut and fill, with numerous cuttings and embankments to enable it to follow as straight a course as possible, although Telford had little to do with its construction, which was managed by William Crosley.

Macclesfield is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England, on the River Bollin and the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east, 16 miles (26 km) south of Manchester and 38 miles (61 km) east of Chester.