The Haslingden Canal was a proposed canal link between the Bury arm of the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal in Greater Manchester, England, and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in Accrington, England, passing through Haslingden. 53°42′N2°18′W / 53.7°N 2.3°W Authorised by an Act of Parliament in 1794, the canal was not built. [1]
The proposed canal would have been broad gauge, 13 miles (21 km) in length, and would have used an inclined plane in place of locks. [2]
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal had been authorised by Act of Parliament in 1770, and by 1777, a long section at the eastern end from Leeds to Gargrave was open, as was another section at the western end from Wigan to Liverpool. There was then a pause until 1790, when work began again on the middle section, [3] but its precise route was still under discussion. At the time, the Rochdale Canal was being promoted, which would provide an alternative crossing of the Pennines, and some of the shareholders were suggesting that the central section was therefore not necessary, and that the canal should be re-routed to serve towns in East Lancashire. In addition, the Lancaster Canal was being promoted, the southern section of which would cut across the route of the Leeds and Liverpool on its way from Preston to Westhoughton, while the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal were promoting an extension westwards from Bolton to Red Moss, to the south of Horwich, which would only be successful if the Leeds and Liverpool would connect to it. The Leeds and Liverpool instructed their engineers, Robert Whitworth and Joseph Priestley, to survey a branch to Red Moss. [4]
There were suggestions that the Leeds and Liverpool should be linked to the Rochdale by building a branch between Burnley and Todmorden, and an increasing number of shareholders were convinced that the canal should be routed further east. Whitworth and Priestley presented a report, which outlined a plan to re-route the Newburgh to Bamber Bridge section through Duxbury, Red Moss, where there would be a junction with the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal, Westhoughton, Hindley and Platt Bridge, where it would join the River Douglas Navigation. The disadvantage of the route was the need for locks to raise the level by 215 feet (66 m) to reach Red Moss, and a longer route via Burnley, Accrington and Blackburn was also considered. It was 12 miles (19 km) longer, but all on one level, and avoided the water supply problems likely with the Red Moss route. [5]
In 1792, the Manchester Bolton & Bury company proposed extending their Bury Branch to Rochdale, but agreed to drop the plan if the Leeds and Liverpool would build their line via Red Moss. The Leeds and Liverpool decided that a link to the Rochdale Canal would be better than an extension of the Bury Branch, and approved the East Lancashire diversion via Red Moss in February 1792. A bill to authorise it was presented to Parliament in 1793, but was defeated by the combined opposition of the Lancaster Canal and the Duke of Bridgewater. [6]
At this point, the Haslingden Canal was proposed, as an additional link between the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal at Bury and the Leeds and Liverpool at Church, near Accrington. Engineers from both canals had decided it was feasible, and William Bennet had worked on the detailed design. It would be 13 miles (21 km) long, and have to rise by 400 feet (120 m) to reach the summit at Haslingden, which was an expanding manufacturing centre. An Act of Parliament (34 Geo. 3. c. 77) was obtained by the promoters in April 1794, which failed to mention a junction with the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, even the Leeds and Liverpool believed there would be one. There were severe restrictions on water supply and locks, and if agreement could not be reached with three-quarters of the millers and factories affected, changes in level were to be achieved by "rollers, racks, inclined planes, or any other works, engines or machinery, as a substitute for locks." The company had powers to raise £47,000 by issuing shares, and an additional £40,000 if required, either by issuing more shares or by mortgaging the tolls. [7]
There was an attempt in July 1794 to engage millowners in a discussion about how alternatives to locks might work, but the project appears to have faded away after that. In 1797, the company was wound up, and the Red Moss scheme was also abandoned at the same time. Hadfield and Biddle have suggested that the scheme might have been a political move, rather than a genuine proposal. [8] In 1805, the Leeds and Liverpool decided to press ahead with the line to Red Moss, but reported that the Manchester Bolton & Bury were no longer ready to do so, although that company kept no record of the event. In 1810, common sense prevailed, and the Leeds and Liverpool agreed to share the southern end of the Lancaster Canal between Johnson's Hillock and Kirkless, near Wigan. Concessions on tolls agreed between the companies meant that a link to the Manchester Bolton & Bury was unlikely to be built. [9]
The Lancaster Canal is a canal in North West England, originally planned to run from Westhoughton in Lancashire to Kendal in south Cumbria. 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.
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool.
The Calder and Hebble Navigation is a broad inland waterway, with locks and bridge holes that are suitable for 14-foot-wide (4.3 m) boats, in West Yorkshire, England. Construction to improve the River Calder and the River Hebble began in 1759, and the initial scheme, which included 5.7 miles (9.2 km) of new cuts, was completed in 1770 and has remained navigable since it was opened. Significant improvements were made, including the Salterhebble branch to Halifax, opened in 1828, and ever-longer cuts to bypass river sections. Trade was assisted by the opening of the Rochdale Canal in 1804, which provided a through route from Sowerby Bridge to Manchester. There were plans to abandon the river sections completely in the 1830s, but these were modified as the needs of mill owners and other riparian landowners were recognised.
The Aire and Calder Navigation is the canalised section of the Rivers Aire and Calder in West Yorkshire, England. The first improvements to the rivers above Knottingley were completed in 1704 when the Aire was made navigable to Leeds and the Calder to Wakefield, by the construction of 16 locks. Lock sizes were increased several times, as was the depth of water, to enable larger boats to use the system. The Aire below Haddlesey was bypassed by the opening of the Selby Canal in 1778. A canal from Knottingley to the new docks and new town at Goole provided a much shorter route to the River Ouse from 1826. The New Junction Canal was constructed in 1905, to link the system to the River Don Navigation, by then part of the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation.
The Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal is a disused canal in Greater Manchester, England, built to link Bolton and Bury with Manchester. The canal, when fully opened, was 15 miles 1 furlong (24 km) long. It was accessed via a junction with the River Irwell in Salford. Seventeen locks were required to climb to the summit as it passed through Pendleton, heading northwest to Prestolee before it split northwest to Bolton and northeast to Bury. Between Bolton and Bury the canal was level and required no locks. Six aqueducts were built to allow the canal to cross the rivers Irwell and Tonge and several minor roads.
The Llangollen Canal is a navigable canal crossing the border between England and Wales. The waterway links Llangollen in Denbighshire, north Wales, with Hurleston in south Cheshire, via the town of Ellesmere, Shropshire. The name, which was coined in the 1980s, is a modern designation for parts of the historic Ellesmere Canal and the Llangollen navigable feeder, both of which became part of the Shropshire Union Canals in 1846.
The Bradford Canal was a 3.5-mile (5.6 km) English canal which ran from the Leeds and Liverpool Canal at Shipley into the centre of Bradford. It opened in 1774, and was closed in 1866, when it was declared to be a public health hazard. Four years later it reopened with a better water supply, and closed for the second time in 1922. It was subsequently filled in, although consideration has been given to restoring it. There are some remains, including a short section of canal at the junction and a pumping station building, which is now a dwelling.
The Huddersfield Broad Canal or Sir John Ramsden's Canal, is a wide-locked navigable canal in West Yorkshire in northern England. The waterway is 3.75 miles (6 km) long and has 9 wide locks. It follows the valley of the River Colne and connects the Calder and Hebble Navigation at Cooper Bridge junction with the Huddersfield Narrow Canal near Aspley Basin in Huddersfield.
The Rochdale Canal is in Northern England, between Manchester and Sowerby Bridge, part of the connected system of the canals of Great Britain. Its name refers to the town of Rochdale through which it passes.
The Liverpool and Bury Railway was formed by an Act in 1845 to link Liverpool and Bury via Kirkby, Wigan and Bolton, the line opening on 20 November 1848. The line became the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway's main line between Liverpool, Manchester and Yorkshire. Most of it is still open.
The Douglas Navigation was a canalised section of the River Douglas or Asland, in Lancashire, England, running from its confluence with the River Ribble to Wigan. It was authorised in 1720, and some work was carried out, but the undertakers lost most of the share money speculating on the South Sea Bubble. Alexander Leigh attempted to revive it eleven years later, and opened it progressively between 1738 and 1742. Leigh began work on a parallel canal called Leigh's Cut to improve the passage from Newburgh to Gathurst, but progress was slow and it was unfinished in 1771.
The Lancaster Canal Tramroad, also known as the Walton Summit Tramway or the Old Tram Road, was a British plateway, completed in 1803, to link the north and south ends of the Lancaster Canal across the Ribble valley, pending completion of the canal. The canal link was never constructed.
The Manchester and Salford Junction Canal was a canal in the city of Manchester. It was originally built to provide a direct waterway between the Mersey and Irwell Navigation and the Rochdale Canal. The canal opened in 1839 and was abandoned in 1922.
The South Pennine Ring is an English canal ring which crosses the Pennines between Manchester and Huddersfield. It covers parts of five canals, and includes passage through the longest canal tunnel in Britain. It has only been possible to cruise it since 2002, when restoration of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal provided the return route across the Pennines.
The North Pennine Ring is a canal ring which crosses the Pennines between Manchester, Leeds and Castleford. It follows parts of five canals, and shares much of its route with the Outer Pennine Ring, which uses a different route for the southern crossing of the Pennines.
The Outer Pennine Ring is an English canal ring which crosses the Pennines between Manchester, Leeds and Castleford. Its route follows parts of eight canals, and includes the longest canal tunnel in England. The ring was completed in 2001, with the opening of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal. Much of the route is shared with the North Pennine Ring, which crosses the Pennines by a different route on the southern leg.
The Heywood Branch Canal was a branch of the Rochdale Canal from Castleton which led to Heywood. It opened in 1834 and carried traffic until 1937. It was abandoned in 1952, along with most of the Rochdale Canal, and although the Rochdale Canal has been reopened, the junction lies under the embankments of the M62 motorway.
The Manchester and Bolton Railway was a railway in the historic county of Lancashire, England, connecting Salford to Bolton. It was built by the proprietors of the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal Navigation and Railway Company who had in 1831 converted from a canal company. The 10-mile (16 km) long railway was originally to have built upon most of the line of the canal, but it was eventually built alongside the Salford and Bolton arms of the canal. The act of Parliament, the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal and Railway Act 1831, also allowed the construction of a connection to Bury, but technical constraints meant that it was never built.
The Hulme Locks Branch Canal is a canal in the city of Manchester. It is 200m in length and was built to provide a direct waterway between the Mersey and Irwell Navigation and the Bridgewater Canal. The canal opened in 1838 and was superseded in 1995 by a new lock at Pomona Dock 3. As both of its locks remain closed, the canal is now overgrown.
William Bennet was an English civil engineer, noted for his work on canals. Nothing is known of his early life or family history, but details of his work from about 1790 until 1826 are documented. His major projects were for the Dorset and Somerset Canal and the Somersetshire Coal Canal.