Sankey Canal

Sankey Canal
Sankey Canal
	The start of the Sankey Canal at Spike Island in Widnes
Specifications
Locks	16
Status	Partly restored
History
Original owner	Sankey Brook Navigation Co
Principal engineer	Henry Berry
Date of act	1755
Date of first use	1757
Date closed	1963
Geography
Start point	River Mersey, Widnes
End point	St Helens
Connects to	River Mersey

The Sankey Canal in North West England, initially known as the Sankey Brook Navigation and later the St Helens Canal, is a former industrial canal, which when opened in 1757 was England's first of the Industrial revolution, and the first modern canal.

Sankey Canal

					Ravenhead Branch
					Sutton Branch

					St Helens
					Gerard's Bridge Branch
					New Double Lock (2)

					Blackbrook Branch
					A58 bridges

					Old Double Lock (2)
					Haydock Lock
					A572 Common Road bridge
					Newton Common Lock
					Sankey Viaduct
					Bradley Lock
					Hey Lock
					M62 bridge
					Winwick Lock
					Hulme Lock
					Sankey Brook aqueduct
					A574 bridge
					Bewsey Lock
					Great Sankey viaduct
					A57 bridge
					Railway bridge
					Sankey Brook
					Sankey Lock
					River Mersey
					Fiddlers Ferry Locks (2)

					Widnes Locks (2)
					River Mersey

The canal eventually connected St Helens to the River Mersey at Spike Island in Widnes. Originally it followed the valley of the Sankey Brook from the Mersey through Warrington to Parr following which extensions were constructed at the Mersey end to Fiddlers Ferry and then to Widnes, while at the northern end it was extended to Sutton.

The canal was abandoned between 1931 and 1963 but has been the object of ongoing restoration attempts since 1985.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.