Looking down the Old Double Locks
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Looking down the Old Double Locks by David Long as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
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Looking down the Old Double Locks
Image: © David Long Taken: 8 Feb 2007
These locks were the first double locks to be constructed in England. The Sankey Brook Navigation was opened in 1757. The canal forks above this point, with one branch going to the Blackbrook Basin terminus, and the other to the Gerards Bridge terminus. When the railways were built in the area, wherever they crossed the canal they had to accommodate the masts of the sailing flats which used the canal. Here, beyond the pipe, may be seen the foundations of a railway swing bridge, built to allow the boats to pass unhindered. The locks were "restored" in about 1974 by forming the cascade through the chambers, and collapsing part of the walls.
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Image Location
Latitude
53.459332
Longitude
-2.698783