Lock 52 On The Leeds Liverpool Canal - Blackburn, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 44.391 W 002° 28.911
30U E 534175 N 5954701
This lock is on The Leeds Liverpool Canal which at 127 miles long is the longest canal in Northern England.
Waymark Code: WMQ0K1
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 11/23/2015
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 (Blackburn Top lock), is the highest of six locks known as Blackburn Locks that have a total rise of 54 feet 9 inches.
These locks opened in 1810 when the section from Henfield to Blackburn was completed.
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: 01/01/1810
Elevation Difference (meters): 3.00
Site Status: Operational
Web Site: [Web Link]
Date Closed (if applicable): Not listed
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