Lock 1 On Rufford Branch Of Leeds Liverpool Canal - Burscough, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 35.846 W 002° 49.820
30U E 511228 N 5938747
This lock is near the junction of the main line of The Leeds Liverpool Canal and its Rufford Branch.
Waymark Code: WMQ0KG
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 11/23/2015
Views: 1
The main line of 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.
This branch off the main line links Burscough to the River Douglas at Tarleton. This was also built in stages between 1760 and 1805.
The canal is a broad canal and the maximum dimensions for a boat to be able to travel on the waterway are 62 feet long and 14 feet wide. The maximum headroom is 7 feet and 8 inches. The maximum draught is 3 feet and 7 inches.
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 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.
Each end of the locks have double gates and are operated manually. Lock gates on the canal have an expected life of between 25 and 30 years and there is an rolling replacement program in the winter months. These lock gates were refurbished in 1999.
A number of the locks on this branch of the canal have unusual paddle design on the canal bank. The type on this lock is operated by horizontal rotating handles
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 top gates do not go to the bottom of the lock but sit 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.
When the lock is empty it is much easier to understand how this works. When I took the pictures of this lock the top chamber was empty and the cill was visible.
The lock is the upper of two locks together called the top locks. It is a Historic England Grade II Listed Building
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