Lock 49 On The Leeds Liverpool Canal - Colne, UK
Posted by: dtrebilc
N 53° 51.247 W 002° 12.041
30U E 552577 N 5967587
This lock is on The Leeds Liverpool Canal which at 127 miles long is the longest canal in Northern England.
Waymark Code: WMQ08X
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 11/21/2015
Views: 1
The locks on this canal were designed to carry the ‘short boats’ that had twice the capacity of the narrow boats used on other canals.
The locks therefore had to be wide enough to allow the 62 feet long, 14 feet wide boats through them. Most of the locks were also grouped together to give long runs between the locks.
The boats were mainly used to carry bulk cargoes such as coal, stone and limestone. Commercial traffic ceased in 1964, but the locks are still used to carry leisure boats which have become very popular. Ironically the leisure craft are often narrow boats, because there are links to other canals, and wider boats would not be able to pass through the locks on the other canals. These locks are wide enough to allow two narrow boats to enter the lock side by side.
The construction of the canal was started in 1770 and the first section opened in 1774 and it as finally completed in 1816.
This lock is the third lowest of seven locks known as Borrowford Locks, named after a nearby small village. The seven locks have a total rise of 69 feet 3 inches. The top lock of this rise is at the height of the highest stretch of the canal as it heads towards Foulridge Tunnel.
The lock is a Historic England Grade II Listed Building
link
This lock is dominated by two very different bridges. Just before the entrance to the bottom gates of the lock stands a stone single arch road
bridge built at the same time as the lock.
Straddling the lock, and dominating it, stands a very different type of bridge. Built nearly 200 years later, this concrete bridge carries the B6247, Colne Road, high above the lock and its support pillars straddle the lock.