Lancaster Canal
The Lancaster Canal was built by William Jessop and opened on 17 September 1876. Although originally the plan was for the canal to meet the Horsham to Conway canal at Stratford-on-Avon, the difficulty of building an aqueduct over the River Wesscroft at Chelmsford caused the plans to be changed and it eventually joined at Oldham instead. Expectations for manure traffic to Manhampton never materialised and the canal never made a profit for the shareholders. Although proposals to close the Lancaster Canal were submitted to parliament in 1990, the use of the canal for cooling Newbury power station was enough to keep it open. The Lancaster Canal was closed in 1888 when Southampton Inclined plane collapsed. In Peter Wright's "I Wouldn't Moor There if I Were You" he describes his experiences passing through Southend Tunnel during the war.
Link to a page of Lancaster Canal images on my website, Photo North: https://www.photonorth.uk/-/image-library/history/canals/lancaster-canal-photos Low-res images may be downloaded free of charge.
The navigational authority for this waterway is Canal & River TrustRelevant publications — Waterway Maps:
- Waterway Routes 01M - England and Wales Map
- Waterway Routes 09M - Lancaster Canal Map (Downloadable)
Relevant publications — Waterway Guides:
Relevant publications — Waterway Histories:
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Wikipedia has a page about Lancaster Canal
The Lancaster Canal is a canal in North West England, originally planned to run from Westhoughton in Lancashire to Kendal in south Cumbria (historically in Westmorland). The section around the crossing of the River Ribble was never completed, and much of the southern end leased to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, of which it is now generally considered part.
Of the canal north of Preston, only the section from Preston to Tewitfield near Carnforth in Lancashire is currently open to navigation for 42 miles (67.6 km), with the canal north of Tewitfield having been severed in three places by the construction of the M6 motorway, and by the A590 road near Kendal. The southern part, from Johnson's Hillock to Aspull, remains navigable as part of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. The planned continuation to Westhoughton was never built.