Lock 44 On The Leeds Liverpool Canal - Barnoldswick, UK - Waterway Locks, Planes and Lifts on Waymarking.com

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 highest of three locks known as Greenberfield Locks that have a total rise of 29 feet 1 inches.

When this stretch of canal was built in 1794, there used to be a two lock staircase and a single lock here, but this configuration was found to be wasteful of water. In 1817 the line of the canal was moved slightly to the west and these three locks built to replace the older ones.

This top lock of this rise is at the height of the highest stretch of the canal on the eastern side of the summit Foulridge Tunnel.

The lock is a Historic England Grade II Listed Building link

Waterway Name: The Leeds Liverpool Canal Connected Points: The main line of the canal connects the city of Leeds with the city of Liverpool. At Leeds it has a junction with the Aire and Calder Navigation. There is a separate arm on the canal at Wigan which connects to Leigh and has a junction with the Bridgewater Canal. There is also an arm at Burscough to Tarleton which has a junction with the Douglas Navigation. Type: Lock Date Opened: 01/01/1817 Elevation Difference (meters): 3.00 Site Status: Operational Web Site: [Web Link] Date Closed (if applicable): Not listed

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