Rochdale Canal Lock 31 – Walsden, UK - Waterway Locks, Planes and Lifts on Waymarking.com

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.

All the locks on the canal have a standard length of 72 feet (22 metres).

Details of this lock
This lock is named Lightbank Lock, it has an integrated stone arch bridge. It was built as an access bridge to a nearby farm and also gives pedestrian access to the other side of the canal to allow the lock gates to be operated. There is also a set of stone steps leading down from the bridge to the canal bank.

A lock always forms the narrowest part of the canal and so incorporating the bridge into the lock makes it smaller and cheaper to build.

At some point the bridge has been widened to allow it to take road vehicles. The bridge is now so close to the lock gates that the arms used to open and shut the gates have had to be shortened. This would make the lock too difficult to operate in the normal manner and so the gates are connected to a ratchet system on the canal banks.

There is a metal rod joining the ratchet to the lock gate. Boat owners use the same windlass to operate this as the one used to open the paddles on the gate to let the water in and out. This website has a picture making it clearer to understand. It’s necessary to scroll down to the last picture on the page. Lock gate ratchet and windlass.

The wooden gates on this lock have recently been replaced. A marker on the gates indicates they were made at Callis Mill in Hebden Bridge. The lower gates were replaced in 2001 and the upper gates in 2000.

This lock was made a Grade II listed building by English Heritage in 1984 before the canal was restored, reference number 1229754.

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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