IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Plumbe Street, BURNLEY, BB11 3AG

On the aqueduct of the Leeds and Liverpool canal known to locals as the "culvert" and looking down the Straight Mile towards the Weavers Triangle. The embankment that holds the Straight Mile is regarded as one of the wonders of the canal age. Note: The Straight Mile is not a mile in length. The mass of terraced housing in the middle of the photograph is the parish of Burnley Wood.

Looking south along a straight section of canal.

The Burnley Embankment, known locally as "The Straight Mile", carries The Leeds and Liverpool Canal 60ft above the town. When the canal was being built here at the end of the eighteenth century, Robert Whitworth, the Leeds and Liverpool Canal Company Engineer decided that an embankment, almost a mile long and up to sixty feet high, straight to the opposite hillside should be built rather than having the canal take a long detour following the contours around the valley, Although it was costly to construct, it meant the valley could be traversed by the canal without the need for two systems of locks. The embankment was constructed between 1796 and 1801, by an army of navvies using spoil brought by boat from the canal cutting to the north of Burnley and some of the excavations from the construction of the nearby Gannow Tunnel. Heavy clay was used to line the bed of the canal to stop the water leaking out. Nowadays, concrete would be used. The embankment, an innovative solution to the problems of canal engineering in its time, remains an impressive construction today. It is widely regarded as one of the "seven wonders" of the British Waterway System http://www.luphen.org.uk/canals/7wonders.htm .

This is regarded as one of the "Seven Wonders of the Canal World" as it doesn't follow the contours of the land but was built on an embankment. During the Second World War pieces of wood were slotted into grooves during the night to avoid flooding in the event of a bomb destroying the banking.

Burnley Embankment, also known as the Straight Mile, was built between 1796 and 1801, to carry the Leeds and Liverpool Canal 60 feet above Burnley.

The Burnley Embankment, known locally as "The Straight Mile", carries The Leeds and Liverpool Canal 60ft above the town. When the canal was being built here at the end of the eighteenth century, Robert Whitworth, the Leeds and Liverpool Canal Company Engineer decided that an embankment, almost a mile long and up to sixty feet high, straight to the opposite hillside should be built rather than having the canal take a long detour following the contours around the valley, Although it was costly to construct, it meant the valley could be traversed by the canal without the need for two systems of locks. The embankment was constructed between 1796 and 1801, by an army of navvies using spoil brought by boat from the canal cutting to the north of Burnley and some of the excavations from the construction of the nearby Gannow Tunnel. Heavy clay was used to line the bed of the canal to stop the water leaking out. Nowadays, concrete would be used. The embankment, an innovative solution to the problems of canal engineering in its time, remains an impressive construction today. It is widely regarded as one of the "seven wonders" of the British Waterway System http://www.luphen.org.uk/canals/7wonders.htm .

The Leeds and Liverpool Canal as it passes through the centre of Burnley