Bridge 173 On Leeds Liverpool Canal – Gargrave, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 58.696 W 002° 04.700
30U E 560445 N 5981496
The Leeds Liverpool canal is the longest canal in Northern England.
Waymark Code: WMJ42E
Location: Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 09/20/2013
Views: 1
The canal is 127.25 miles long and flows from the inland woollen town of Leeds to the coastal sea port of Liverpool, crossing the Pennines along the way. Work on the canal started in 1770 and built in a number of sections and was finally completed in 1816.
The canal is no longer operational for commercial traffic but is popular with leisure boaters.
This is a steel counterweight swing bridge and is also known as Highgate bridge. It is an access bridge for a nearby farm which had its fields split into two when the canal was built.
The Moveable Bridges of Britain
website tells us “that this is a modern steel counterweighted swing bridge erected sometime in the 1980s. It replaced a much older timber swing bridge dating from around 1820.”
The bridge is always locked in position across the canal and boat owners carry the anti-vandal key to unlock the bridge when they wish to pass along the canal. It is manually operated with a simple lever arm to push and pull the bridge into position.
A sign next to the push arm has the following operating instructions.
Bridge 173,
Highgate
Swing Bridge
To open bridge
Use handcuff key to unlock anti-vandal
locking mechanism
Use push arm to fully open bridge
To close bridge
Use push arm to close bridge fully
Relock anti-vandal lock mechanism
Please ensure bridge
is not left unlocked