Rochdale Canal Lock 51 – Rochdale, 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.

Details of this lock
This lock is also known as Blue Pits Highest Lock. It is the highest of three locks named after a nearby quarry that used to produce a type of blue clay. It is close to a road bridge that carries Manchester Road over the canal. The bridge was rebuilt when the canal was reopened and almost overhangs the lock, but there is just enough room for a small wooden footbridge to give access to both sides of the lock to operate the gates.

On many locks there are warning signs about making sure the boat does not get caught on the cill.

It's not always obvious what this means, but basically the wooden lock gate does not go to the bottom of the lock but sits on a stone base. When the lock is full and a boat is going down, the cill is not visible. This means that when the water is released from the lock it is possible for the boat to get caught on the cill.

This lock was at its lowest when I took the pictures and the cill is clearly visible. When the cill is visible it's much easier to understand the hidden danger.

This lock was renovated in 2001 as part of the regeneration works. A brick wall next to an industrial site had to be demolished to give access to one side of the lock. It was replaced with a metal fence but there is still limited access. Because of this one of the lock arms is shorter than normal and have a winch and chain mechanism to operate that arm.

This website shows the renovation works.

Waterway Name: The Rochdale Canal Connected Points: The city of Manchester on the western side of the Pennine hills and the town of Sowerby Bridge on the east. Type: Lock Date Opened: 01/01/1804 Elevation Difference (meters): 2.00 Site Status: Operational Web Site: [Web Link] Date Closed (if applicable): Not listed

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