Rochdale Canal, Second Below West Summit Lock 39 – Summit, UK
Posted by: dtrebilc
N 53° 39.667 W 002° 04.920
30U E 560661 N 5946210
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: WMD4PE
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 11/18/2011
Views: 4
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 39, prosaically known as Second Below West Summit, is on the western side of the summit and near to the village also called Summit.
As the name suggests it is actually below the summit of the canal, but at this point the locks are very close together so the summit is not far away.
One of the lock gate arms has been dedicated to Keith Parry of the Littleborough Action Group. He was very active in the campaign to keep the canal open and the lockkeeper of the actual Summit lock suggested naming this lock after him.
British Waterways have a policy of not changing the original lock names, but they did agree to the addition the memorial plaque.
Waterway Name: The Rochdale Canal
Connected Points: The City of Manchester on the wast 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): 4.00
Site Status: Operational
Web Site: [Web Link]
Date Closed (if applicable): Not listed
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