Sankey Canal
Encyclopedia
The Sankey Canal, which is also known as the Sankey Brook Navigation and the St Helens Canal, is a canal in Cheshire
, extending into Merseyside
, in the northwest
of England
, connecting St Helens
with the River Mersey
. When opened in 1757, it ran along the valley of the Sankey Brook from the point where the brook joined the River Mersey
, to a location to the north east of St Helens
. Extensions were constructed at the Mersey end of the canal, firstly to Fiddlers Ferry and then to Widnes, while at the northern end, it was extended into what became the centre of St. Helens. The canal was gradually abandoned between 1931 and 1963, but has been the subject of a restoration attempt since 1985, when the Sankey Canal Restoration Society was formed.
from the Lancashire Coalfield
mines to the growing chemical industries of Liverpool, though iron ore and corn were also important commodities. These industries rapidly expanded, and spread back along the line of the canal to St Helens
, Haydock
, Earlestown
and Widnes
, which were small villages until this period. The canal was thus an important factor in the industrial growth of the region.
The line of the canal was surveyed by Henry Berry
and William Taylor, for which they charged £66. Berry, who had previously worked with Thomas Steers
, Liverpool
’s First Dock Engineer, on the Newry Canal
in Northern Ireland
, was Liverpool’s Second Dock Engineer, but was appointed Engineer for the navigation when those promoting it convinced the Dock Trustees that they should release him for two days a week. It is not known whether it was Berry or the promoters who presented the plans to parliament as an upgrade to an existing river navigation, despite the fact that it would be built as a proper canal, but it is thought to be the only time that a canal was authorised by parliament without anyone petitioning against it.
The Act of Parliament
authorising the construction of the navigation was passed on 20 March 1755, and was entitled An Act for making navigable the River or Brook called Sankey Brook, and Three several Branches thereof from the River Mersey below Sankey Bridges, up to Boardman's Stone Bridge on the South Branch, to Gerrard's Bridge on the Middle Branch, and to Penny Bridge on the North Branch, all in the county palatine of Lancaster. The canal was open and carrying coal by 1757; carriage of all goods was charged at a flat rate of 10d (ten old pence – approximately £0.042) per ton
.
As the title of the Act states, in addition to the mainline between the Mersey and St Helens, there were three branches to nearby collieries: the South Branch to Boardman's Stone Bridge, near St Helens; the Middle Branch to Gerrard's Bridge; and the North Branch to Penny Bridge.
A second Act of Parliament was obtained on 8 April 1762, amending the earlier act, and was entitled, An Act to amend and render more effectual, an Act made in the Twenty-eighth Year of the Reign of his late Majesty King George the Second, for making navigable Sankey Brook, in the county of Lancaster, and for the extending and improving the said Navigation. This authorised the extension of the navigation to Fiddler's Ferry on the River Mersey, and to take an additional toll of two-pence per ton, making the rate one shilling (£0.05) per ton. The line of this extension was surveyed by John Eyes, who acted as principal witness to see the bill through parliament.
An early trial of steam power took place on 16 June 1797, when, according to the Billing's Liverpool Advertiser, dated the 26th, John Smith's "vessel heavily laden with copper slag, passed along the Sankey Canal ... by the application of steam only ... it appears, that the vessel after a course of 10 miles [16 km], returned the same evening to St Helen's whence it had set out". This boat was powered by a Newcomen engine
working a paddle crankshaft through a beam and connecting rod.
To counter competition from the new railways, a further extension of the canal was planned from Fiddler's Ferry across Cuerdley and Widnes
Salt Marshes to Widnes Wharf, on the west bank of the River Mersey near Runcorn Gap, thus creating an additional connection to the Mersey with another basin. This was authorised by a third Act of Parliament, granted on 29 May 1830, entitled An Act to consolidate and amend the Acts relating to the Sankey Brook Navigation, in the county of Lancaster; and to make a New Canal from the said Navigation at Fidler's Ferry, to communicate with the River Mersey at Widness Wharf, near West Bank, in the township of Widnes, in the said county,' repeals the former acts of the 28th George II. and 2nd George III. and incorporates the proprietors under the title of "The Company of Proprietors of the Sankey Brook Navigation." Francis Giles
was appointed Engineer for this extension, which opened in 1833. In 1825 Giles, who was a pupil of John Rennie and involved in many canal projects of the period, had proposed a link from the Sankey, via an aqueduct across the Mersey, to the Bridgewater Canal and the Mersey and Irwell Navigation, but this was never implemented.
The Sankey Canal was built for Mersey Flat
s, the common sailing craft of the local rivers; they were used on the rivers Mersey
, Irwell
and Weaver
and along the Lancashire
and North Wales
coasts. To allow for the masts of the flats, swing bridges were constructed for the roads which crossed the canal. When the railways were built, they too had to cross in similar fashion. The exception was at Earlestown
, where Stephenson
erected the Sankey Viaduct
for the country's first passenger railway from Liverpool to Manchester
, leaving 70 feet (21.3 m) headroom for the flats' sails. It is unclear exactly how the flats' masts were accommodated at Great Sankey, where the Liverpool-Warrington-Manchester line built by the Cheshire Lines Committee in 1873 crosses the Sankey on a 12-arch viaduct less than twenty feet above the water level of the canal.
In 1877, it was reportedly the case that, due to the pollution of a local Leblanc alkali works
, "The mud deposited in the Sankey Brook, near St. Helen's, has been found to contain no less than 2.26 percent of arsenic
...The water of the Sankey Brook is so acid that iron fittings cannot safely be used in the barges and lock gates." Reportedly, by 1891, 500 acres (2 km²) of nearby Widnes
and Ditton Marshes
were buried under an average depth of 12 feet (3.7 m) of toxic galligu from alkali operations near the Sankey Canal. The galligu detritus was estimated at 10 million tonnes in total weight. It is unknown what level of pollution exists in said brook as of 2009, though galligu, soap
and ash waste have been reported in the vicinity. In the present, discoveries of arsenic, lead and mercury have been found as common contaminants in the soil of local gardens. On top of this, St Michael’s Golf Course, a municipal golf course in nearby Widnes built atop "30 hectares of land from old chemical waste tips", was forced to close due to high levels of arsenic
found in the soil, that created a public hazard.
and Parr
down to the Mersey and so on to the saltfields of Cheshire and Liverpool, the final traffic on the Sankey Canal was very different, and in the opposite direction, consisting of raw sugar for the Sankey Sugar Works at Earlestown, Newton-le-Willows
, from Liverpool.
The canal’s immediate commercial success, followed soon after by that of the Bridgewater Canal
, led to a mania of canal building, and for further extension schemes to be proposed for the Sankey Canal. Francis Giles' proposal to link the canal to the Bridgwater Canal was not implemented, and neither was a plan to link the canal to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal
near Leigh, to the North-East. Apart from the early extension to Fiddlers Ferry, which provided better access to the River Mersey, and the 1775 extension to St Helens, the only major change came with the extension to Widnes in the 1830s.
In 1845 the St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway Company
and the then more prosperous Canal Company merged to form the St Helens Canal and Railway Company. Its occasionally used name is the St Helens Canal. The Sankey Canal Restoration Society, which was formed in 1985, uses its correct title, and British Waterways
currently uses the correct title.
Most of the canal is still in water and much has been restored to navigable standard, with short sections at Fiddlers Ferry, Warrington and Spike Island, Widnes having locks into the Mersey which have allowed craft access to the canal for mooring since the locks were restored in the 1980s. However, fixed bridges which replaced the original wooden swing bridges and other obstructions isolate the sections from one another. The route of the canal passes through the Sankey Valley Park
and the towpath from Sankey Bridges to Widnes now forms part of the Trans Pennine Trail
There are plans to restore the canal, and to extend it to join the main canal system via the Leeds and Liverpool Canal
. The total cost of this would be in excess of £100m and it is therefore a long-term project. There are, however, plans to dig out an infilled section in the centre of St. Helens as part of the town's Eastside development. A feasibility study for this work was funded by a grant from the Single Regeneration Budget Fund, while at the other end of the canal, the Widnes Waterfront plan, published by Halton Council, and the proposed new Mersey crossing between Widnes and Runcorn are expected to lead to further restoration at Widnes.
The section of the Sankey Canal running from St.Helens to Earlestown
is expected to be the most difficult to restore, and is likely to involve the laying of a complete new canal bed. Work on the new canal is due to begin in 2009.
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
, extending into Merseyside
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...
, in the northwest
North West England
North West England, informally known as The North West, is one of the nine official regions of England.North West England had a 2006 estimated population of 6,853,201 the third most populated region after London and the South East...
of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, connecting St Helens
St Helens, Merseyside
St Helens is a large town in Merseyside, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens with a population of just over 100,000, part of an urban area with a total population of 176,843 at the time of the 2001 Census...
with the River Mersey
River Mersey
The River Mersey is a river in North West England. It is around long, stretching from Stockport, Greater Manchester, and ending at Liverpool Bay, Merseyside. For centuries, it formed part of the ancient county divide between Lancashire and Cheshire....
. When opened in 1757, it ran along the valley of the Sankey Brook from the point where the brook joined the River Mersey
River Mersey
The River Mersey is a river in North West England. It is around long, stretching from Stockport, Greater Manchester, and ending at Liverpool Bay, Merseyside. For centuries, it formed part of the ancient county divide between Lancashire and Cheshire....
, to a location to the north east of St Helens
St Helens, Merseyside
St Helens is a large town in Merseyside, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens with a population of just over 100,000, part of an urban area with a total population of 176,843 at the time of the 2001 Census...
. Extensions were constructed at the Mersey end of the canal, firstly to Fiddlers Ferry and then to Widnes, while at the northern end, it was extended into what became the centre of St. Helens. The canal was gradually abandoned between 1931 and 1963, but has been the subject of a restoration attempt since 1985, when the Sankey Canal Restoration Society was formed.
History
The Sankey Canal was built principally to transport coalCoal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
from the Lancashire Coalfield
Lancashire Coalfield
The Lancashire Coalfield in north-west England was one of the most important British coalfields.-Geography and geology:The geology of the coalfield consists of the coal seams of the Upper, Middle and Lower Coal Measures, layers of sandstones, shales and coal of varying thickness, which were laid...
mines to the growing chemical industries of Liverpool, though iron ore and corn were also important commodities. These industries rapidly expanded, and spread back along the line of the canal to St Helens
St Helens, Merseyside
St Helens is a large town in Merseyside, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens with a population of just over 100,000, part of an urban area with a total population of 176,843 at the time of the 2001 Census...
, Haydock
Haydock
Haydock is a village within the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, in Merseyside, England. It contains all of the Haydock electoral ward and a section of the Blackbrook electoral ward. The village is located roughly mid-way between Liverpool and Manchester, close to the junction of the M6 motorway...
, Earlestown
Earlestown
Earlestown forms the western part of Newton-le-Willows, a town in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 Census the population was recorded as 10,274.-History:...
and Widnes
Widnes
Widnes is an industrial town within the borough of Halton, in Cheshire, England, with an urban area population of 57,663 in 2004. It is located on the northern bank of the River Mersey where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. Directly to the south across the Mersey is the town of Runcorn...
, which were small villages until this period. The canal was thus an important factor in the industrial growth of the region.
The line of the canal was surveyed by Henry Berry
Henry Berry
Henry Berry, was Liverpool's second dock engineer succeeding Thomas Steers and being succeeded by Thomas Morris. Berry Street in Liverpool may be named after Berry who lived in a house at the junction with Duke Street, where the White Horse pub stands.He built Salthouse Dock, George's Dock and...
and William Taylor, for which they charged £66. Berry, who had previously worked with Thomas Steers
Thomas Steers
Thomas Steers was thought to have been born in 1672 in Kent and died in 1750. He was England's first major civil engineer and built many canals, the world's first commercial wet dock, the Old Dock at Liverpool, and a theatre...
, Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
’s First Dock Engineer, on the Newry Canal
Newry Canal
The Newry Canal, located in Northern Ireland, was built to link the Tyrone coalfields to the Irish Sea at Carlingford Lough near Newry.-History:...
in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, was Liverpool’s Second Dock Engineer, but was appointed Engineer for the navigation when those promoting it convinced the Dock Trustees that they should release him for two days a week. It is not known whether it was Berry or the promoters who presented the plans to parliament as an upgrade to an existing river navigation, despite the fact that it would be built as a proper canal, but it is thought to be the only time that a canal was authorised by parliament without anyone petitioning against it.
The Act of Parliament
Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...
authorising the construction of the navigation was passed on 20 March 1755, and was entitled An Act for making navigable the River or Brook called Sankey Brook, and Three several Branches thereof from the River Mersey below Sankey Bridges, up to Boardman's Stone Bridge on the South Branch, to Gerrard's Bridge on the Middle Branch, and to Penny Bridge on the North Branch, all in the county palatine of Lancaster. The canal was open and carrying coal by 1757; carriage of all goods was charged at a flat rate of 10d (ten old pence – approximately £0.042) per ton
Long ton
Long ton is the name for the unit called the "ton" in the avoirdupois or Imperial system of measurements, as used in the United Kingdom and several other Commonwealth countries. It has been mostly replaced by the tonne, and in the United States by the short ton...
.
As the title of the Act states, in addition to the mainline between the Mersey and St Helens, there were three branches to nearby collieries: the South Branch to Boardman's Stone Bridge, near St Helens; the Middle Branch to Gerrard's Bridge; and the North Branch to Penny Bridge.
A second Act of Parliament was obtained on 8 April 1762, amending the earlier act, and was entitled, An Act to amend and render more effectual, an Act made in the Twenty-eighth Year of the Reign of his late Majesty King George the Second, for making navigable Sankey Brook, in the county of Lancaster, and for the extending and improving the said Navigation. This authorised the extension of the navigation to Fiddler's Ferry on the River Mersey, and to take an additional toll of two-pence per ton, making the rate one shilling (£0.05) per ton. The line of this extension was surveyed by John Eyes, who acted as principal witness to see the bill through parliament.
An early trial of steam power took place on 16 June 1797, when, according to the Billing's Liverpool Advertiser, dated the 26th, John Smith's "vessel heavily laden with copper slag, passed along the Sankey Canal ... by the application of steam only ... it appears, that the vessel after a course of 10 miles [16 km], returned the same evening to St Helen's whence it had set out". This boat was powered by a Newcomen engine
Newcomen steam engine
The atmospheric engine invented by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, today referred to as a Newcomen steam engine , was the first practical device to harness the power of steam to produce mechanical work. Newcomen engines were used throughout Britain and Europe, principally to pump water out of mines,...
working a paddle crankshaft through a beam and connecting rod.
To counter competition from the new railways, a further extension of the canal was planned from Fiddler's Ferry across Cuerdley and Widnes
Widnes
Widnes is an industrial town within the borough of Halton, in Cheshire, England, with an urban area population of 57,663 in 2004. It is located on the northern bank of the River Mersey where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. Directly to the south across the Mersey is the town of Runcorn...
Salt Marshes to Widnes Wharf, on the west bank of the River Mersey near Runcorn Gap, thus creating an additional connection to the Mersey with another basin. This was authorised by a third Act of Parliament, granted on 29 May 1830, entitled An Act to consolidate and amend the Acts relating to the Sankey Brook Navigation, in the county of Lancaster; and to make a New Canal from the said Navigation at Fidler's Ferry, to communicate with the River Mersey at Widness Wharf, near West Bank, in the township of Widnes, in the said county,' repeals the former acts of the 28th George II. and 2nd George III. and incorporates the proprietors under the title of "The Company of Proprietors of the Sankey Brook Navigation." Francis Giles
Francis Giles
Francis Giles was a canal engineer and surveyor who worked under John Rennie and later became a railway engineer-Works and appointments:...
was appointed Engineer for this extension, which opened in 1833. In 1825 Giles, who was a pupil of John Rennie and involved in many canal projects of the period, had proposed a link from the Sankey, via an aqueduct across the Mersey, to the Bridgewater Canal and the Mersey and Irwell Navigation, but this was never implemented.
Mersey Flat
A Mersey flat is a type of doubled-ended barge with rounded bilges, carvel build and fully decked. Traditionally, the hull was built of oak and the deck was pitch pine. Some had a single mast, with a fore and aft rig, while some had an additional mizzen mast. Despite having a flat bottom and curved...
s, the common sailing craft of the local rivers; they were used on the rivers Mersey
River Mersey
The River Mersey is a river in North West England. It is around long, stretching from Stockport, Greater Manchester, and ending at Liverpool Bay, Merseyside. For centuries, it formed part of the ancient county divide between Lancashire and Cheshire....
, Irwell
River Irwell
The River Irwell is a long river which flows through the Irwell Valley in the counties of Lancashire and Greater Manchester in North West England. The river's source is at Irwell Springs on Deerplay Moor, approximately north of Bacup, in the parish of Cliviger, Lancashire...
and Weaver
River Weaver
The River Weaver is a river, navigable in its lower reaches, running in a curving route anti-clockwise across west Cheshire, northern England. Improvements to the river to make it navigable were authorised in 1720 and the work, which included eleven locks, was completed in 1732...
and along the Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
and North Wales
North Wales
North Wales is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales. It is bordered to the south by the counties of Ceredigion and Powys in Mid Wales and to the east by the counties of Shropshire in the West Midlands and Cheshire in North West England...
coasts. To allow for the masts of the flats, swing bridges were constructed for the roads which crossed the canal. When the railways were built, they too had to cross in similar fashion. The exception was at Earlestown
Earlestown
Earlestown forms the western part of Newton-le-Willows, a town in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 Census the population was recorded as 10,274.-History:...
, where Stephenson
George Stephenson
George Stephenson was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who built the first public railway line in the world to use steam locomotives...
erected the Sankey Viaduct
Sankey Viaduct
right|thumb|225px|Sankey Viaduct crossing Sankey BrookThe Sankey Viaduct is a railway viaduct at Bradley Lane, Collins Green, Burtonwood parish, Warrington Borough, crossing the Sankey Brook into Earlestown, Newton le Willows, Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside.-History:The viaduct was...
for the country's first passenger railway from Liverpool to Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, leaving 70 feet (21.3 m) headroom for the flats' sails. It is unclear exactly how the flats' masts were accommodated at Great Sankey, where the Liverpool-Warrington-Manchester line built by the Cheshire Lines Committee in 1873 crosses the Sankey on a 12-arch viaduct less than twenty feet above the water level of the canal.
In 1877, it was reportedly the case that, due to the pollution of a local Leblanc alkali works
Leblanc process
The Leblanc process was the industrial process for the production of soda ash used throughout the 19th century, named after its inventor, Nicolas Leblanc. It involved two stages: Production of sodium sulfate from sodium chloride, followed by reaction of the sodium sulfate with coal and calcium...
, "The mud deposited in the Sankey Brook, near St. Helen's, has been found to contain no less than 2.26 percent of arsenic
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
...The water of the Sankey Brook is so acid that iron fittings cannot safely be used in the barges and lock gates." Reportedly, by 1891, 500 acres (2 km²) of nearby Widnes
Widnes
Widnes is an industrial town within the borough of Halton, in Cheshire, England, with an urban area population of 57,663 in 2004. It is located on the northern bank of the River Mersey where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. Directly to the south across the Mersey is the town of Runcorn...
and Ditton Marshes
Ditton, Cheshire
Ditton is a residential area of Widnes, in the borough of Halton, England. It borders Halebank to the south and west, Hough Green to the north and north west and an area just outside of Widnes town centre to the east...
were buried under an average depth of 12 feet (3.7 m) of toxic galligu from alkali operations near the Sankey Canal. The galligu detritus was estimated at 10 million tonnes in total weight. It is unknown what level of pollution exists in said brook as of 2009, though galligu, soap
Alkali
In chemistry, an alkali is a basic, ionic salt of an alkali metal or alkaline earth metal element. Some authors also define an alkali as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a soluble base has a pH greater than 7. The adjective alkaline is commonly used in English as a synonym for base,...
and ash waste have been reported in the vicinity. In the present, discoveries of arsenic, lead and mercury have been found as common contaminants in the soil of local gardens. On top of this, St Michael’s Golf Course, a municipal golf course in nearby Widnes built atop "30 hectares of land from old chemical waste tips", was forced to close due to high levels of arsenic
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
found in the soil, that created a public hazard.
Structures
A staircase (double) lock was built on the Sankey Canal and a second staircase was built later when the Ravenhead Branch was constructed in 1775. They are known respectively as the Old Double Lock and the New Double Lock. The latter was restored by St. Helens Borough Council in 1992, although it has no navigable waterway either above or below it.Operation
Built primarily to take coal from HaydockHaydock
Haydock is a village within the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, in Merseyside, England. It contains all of the Haydock electoral ward and a section of the Blackbrook electoral ward. The village is located roughly mid-way between Liverpool and Manchester, close to the junction of the M6 motorway...
and Parr
Parr, St Helens
Parr is a former village, now situated within St. Helens, England and is located towards the eastern side of the town. However the area dates back to the West Derby hundred district from the 12th century. The area is located within walking distance of St...
down to the Mersey and so on to the saltfields of Cheshire and Liverpool, the final traffic on the Sankey Canal was very different, and in the opposite direction, consisting of raw sugar for the Sankey Sugar Works at Earlestown, Newton-le-Willows
Newton-le-Willows
Newton-le-Willows is a small market town within the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, in Merseyside, England. Historically a part of Lancashire, it is situated about midway between the cities of Manchester and Liverpool, to the east of St Helens, to the north of Warrington and to the south of...
, from Liverpool.
The canal’s immediate commercial success, followed soon after by that of the Bridgewater Canal
Bridgewater Canal
The Bridgewater Canal connects Runcorn, Manchester and Leigh, in North West England. It was commissioned by Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, to transport coal from his mines in Worsley to Manchester...
, led to a mania of canal building, and for further extension schemes to be proposed for the Sankey Canal. Francis Giles' proposal to link the canal to the Bridgwater Canal was not implemented, and neither was a plan to link the canal to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal
Leeds and Liverpool Canal
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Over a distance of , it crosses the Pennines, and includes 91 locks on the main line...
near Leigh, to the North-East. Apart from the early extension to Fiddlers Ferry, which provided better access to the River Mersey, and the 1775 extension to St Helens, the only major change came with the extension to Widnes in the 1830s.
In 1845 the St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway Company
St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway
St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway, later known as St Helens Railway, was an early railway company in Lancashire, England, which opened in 1833. It ran originally from the town of St Helens to the area which would later develop into the town of Widnes. Branches were opened to Garston, Warrington...
and the then more prosperous Canal Company merged to form the St Helens Canal and Railway Company. Its occasionally used name is the St Helens Canal. The Sankey Canal Restoration Society, which was formed in 1985, uses its correct title, and British Waterways
British Waterways
British Waterways is a statutory corporation wholly owned by the government of the United Kingdom, serving as the navigation authority in England, Scotland and Wales for the vast majority of the canals as well as a number of rivers and docks...
currently uses the correct title.
Decline
The ending of the sugar traffic in 1959 led to the closure of the canal in 1963. North of the sugar works, closure had taken place in 1931, and fixed bridges quickly replaced the old wooden swing bridges. The canal, however, remains largely in water right up into the centre of St Helens, although its terminus had been truncated in 1898, when Canal Street was built over it.Restoration
Restoration of the canal began in 1980, when work began on the section between Bewsey and Liverpool Road, Great Sankey, funded by a Derelict Land GrantMost of the canal is still in water and much has been restored to navigable standard, with short sections at Fiddlers Ferry, Warrington and Spike Island, Widnes having locks into the Mersey which have allowed craft access to the canal for mooring since the locks were restored in the 1980s. However, fixed bridges which replaced the original wooden swing bridges and other obstructions isolate the sections from one another. The route of the canal passes through the Sankey Valley Park
Sankey Valley Park
Sankey Valley Park is a public park in Warrington, Cheshire. It occupies part of the Sankey Valley and the main park itself covers over 1½ miles between Sankey Bridges in the south and Callands in the north. The valley follows the course of Sankey Brook and the now disused Sankey Canal...
and the towpath from Sankey Bridges to Widnes now forms part of the Trans Pennine Trail
Trans Pennine Trail
The Trans Pennine Trail is a long distance path running from coast to coast across northern England entirely on surfaced paths and using only gentle gradients ....
There are plans to restore the canal, and to extend it to join the main canal system via the Leeds and Liverpool Canal
Leeds and Liverpool Canal
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Over a distance of , it crosses the Pennines, and includes 91 locks on the main line...
. The total cost of this would be in excess of £100m and it is therefore a long-term project. There are, however, plans to dig out an infilled section in the centre of St. Helens as part of the town's Eastside development. A feasibility study for this work was funded by a grant from the Single Regeneration Budget Fund, while at the other end of the canal, the Widnes Waterfront plan, published by Halton Council, and the proposed new Mersey crossing between Widnes and Runcorn are expected to lead to further restoration at Widnes.
The section of the Sankey Canal running from St.Helens to Earlestown
Earlestown
Earlestown forms the western part of Newton-le-Willows, a town in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 Census the population was recorded as 10,274.-History:...
is expected to be the most difficult to restore, and is likely to involve the laying of a complete new canal bed. Work on the new canal is due to begin in 2009.
See also
- Canals of the United KingdomCanals of the United KingdomThe canals of the United Kingdom are a major part of the network of inland waterways in the United Kingdom. They have a colourful history, from use for irrigation and transport, through becoming the focus of the Industrial Revolution, to today's role for recreational boating...
- History of the British canal systemHistory of the British canal systemThe British canal system of water transport played a vital role in the United Kingdom's Industrial Revolution at a time when roads were only just emerging from the medieval mud and long trains of pack horses were the only means of "mass" transit by road of raw materials and finished products The...