Rochdale Canal Lock 35 – Warland, 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 Warland Upper Lock, and as the name suggests is one of a pair of locks at Warland. It has an integrated wooden foot bridge that gives access to the other side of the canal to allow the lock gates to be operated.

The upper wooden gates on this lock have a marker indicating they were made in 2001 at Callis Mill in Hebden Bridge.

Very close by to the bridge, whilst the canal is still at its narrowest, is a swing bridge to give road traffic access across the canal. A lock always forms the narrowest part of the canal and so placing the bridge near to the lock makes it smaller and cheaper to build. In this case it gives road access to a nearby farm.

Immediately next to the bridge is a border marker for Yorkshire and Lancashire. To get here from the start of the canal at Sowerby Bridge in Yorkshire has meant passing up through 33 locks. (2 of the original 92 have been integrated into 1 deep lock).

Coming from the end of the canal in Manchester from Lancashire has meant passing up through 57 locks and then descending through 1.

This lock was made a Grade II listed building by English Heritage in 1984 before the canal was restored, reference number 1278548.</a

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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