Location :
North Yorkshire, Lancashire
Wigan, Leeds, Pendle, Sefton, Liverpool, Chorley, Craven, Bradford, Knowsley, Hyndburn, Burnley, Bolton, West Lancashire
Blackburn with Darwen
Whittle-le-Woods, Blackrod, Withnell, Heath Charnock, Shipley, Heapey, Wheelton, Aintree Village, Bingley, Maghull, Kildwick, Gargrave, Farnhill, Skipton, Bradleys Both, Keighley, Lydiate, Melling, Bank Newton, Martons Both, Barnoldswick, Salterforth, Foulridge, Reedley Hallows, Colne, Stirton with Thorlby, Hoghton, Downholland, Barrowford, Blacko, Halsall, Nelson, Brierfield, Hapton, Scarisbrick, Newburgh, Wrightington, Lathom, Rufford, Altham, Livesey, Tarleton, Bretherton, Parbold, Shevington, Adlington, Burscough, Silsden, Haigh, Brindle
Non Civil Parish
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| More information : With a length of 127 miles excluding branches, the Leeds and Liverpool Canal is the longest single canal in Britain built by a single company. Its construction costs amounted to 1.2 million pounds and it took well over 40 years before the main line was completed. The canal has its beginnings in the River Douglas, a river made navigable by 1740, from Wigan to Parbold, Tarleton and the Ribble estuary. The navigation provided a useful outlet for coal from the Wigan area. After a few years the idea of purely artificial canals as traffic routes became popular and several trans-Pennine schemes were mooted. After arguments about the route, the Leeds and Liverpool Canal was authorised in 1770, and construction began at once, with John Longbotham as engineer. The first section from Bingley to Skipton was opened within 3 years; by 1777 two long sections were open from Aire and Calder at Leeds to Gargrave and from Wigan to Liverpool. In 1790 a new money-raising Act of Parliament gave the impetus to complete the difficult middle section of the canal. Work began with Robert Whitworth as the company's engineer; but after 1792 and the outbreak of war with France, the nation's purse strings were tightened and after 1794 finance for canal building declined. However, the whole of the main line from Leeds to Liverpool was completed by 1816 (under an arrangement with the Lancaster Canal Company), the finished canal shared the channel of the Lancaster Canal for 10 miles. This section is from Wigan Top Lock to Johnson's Hillock Bottom Lock. The Lancaster used to then to branch off up what later became the Walton Summit Branch. In 1820 a branch was opened to join the Bridgwater Canal at Leigh. A short branch was also made to stone quarries at Skipton and an important 3-mile long canal from Shipley to Bradford. The cut down to Liverpool Docks was made in 1846. |