Rochdale Canal, Lock 41 – Calderbrook, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 39.556 W 002° 04.926
30U E 560657 N 5946003
The Rochdale canal is 32 miles long and connects Manchester on the west side of the Pennine Hills and Sowerby Bridge on the east side.
Waymark Code: WMD4NA
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 11/18/2011
Views: 3
The Canal History
The Rochdale Canal was completed in 1804 and is one of three canals that cross the Pennine hills. This is the only one that doesn’t use tunnels. In addition it was a broad canal with bridges and locks that allowed boats of 14 feet width to pass through.
The one downside of not using tunnels is that it originally had 92 locks. These days two of them have been combined into one deep lock.
Competition from railways and roads subsequently led to a decline in goods being carried and by 1937 the only section left in operation was at the Manchester end of the canal.
In 1965 there was talk of abandoning the canal but by this time leisure boating had become very popular in the UK and there was a campaign to keep it open. Work was started and the canal slowly re-opened in a number of different stages. The whole length finally reopened in September 2007.
Details of this lock
Lock 41 is on the western side of the summit and near to Calderbrook
This part of the canal is easily accessible from the road that crosses the canal from the A6033 at Timbercliffe.
Quite often locks in the UK have warning signs indicating where the Cill is and to not let the front of the boat get near it. Apparently boats can get stuck on the Cill. I was never sure what this meant until I saw this lock.
The water level was very low and you can see that the wooden lock gates do not actually go all the way down to the bottom of the lock. They in fact stand on a stone wall that is wider than the gates. When this is visible it is easy to see why it's a bad idea to let boats rest on the Cill. The warning picture on the lock gate also makes much more sense now.
In addition the walls of this lock are suffering from partial subsidence, which has reduced the width of the lock slightly.. Although this is a broad canal and the locks are wide enough to take two boats side by side this one is restricted to only allow 1 boat at a time.
Waterway Name: The Rochdale Canal
Connected Points:
The City of Manchester on the west side of the Pennine Hills and the town of Sowerby Bridge on the east side.
Type: Lock
Date Opened: 01/01/1804
Elevation Difference (meters): 3.00
Site Status: Operational
Web Site: [Web Link]
Date Closed (if applicable): Not listed
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