History Of Runcorn - 8000 BC to 1961 AD - Runcorn, UK - Timelines on Waymarking.com

Runcorn
"Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port in the Metropolitan Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, and a member of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. In 2011, Halton's population was recorded to be 127,500, with Runcorn alone being 70,000. The town is on the southern bank of the River Mersey, where the estuary narrows to form Runcorn Gap.

Runcorn was a small, isolated village until the coming of the Industrial Revolution. It was a health resort in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Towards the end of the 18th century, a port began to develop on the south bank of the River Mersey.

During the 18th century water transport had been improved in the area by the Mersey and Irwell Navigation, the Bridgewater Canal and the Trent and Mersey Canal. This gave Runcorn waterway connections with most of the interior of England through the canal system and with the sea along the River Mersey, thus forming the basis for the development of the Port of Runcorn.

In 1894 the Manchester Ship Canal was opened throughout its length. This allowed ocean-going ships to travel inland as far as Salford, some of them calling at the port of Runcorn. " Extracted from this Wikipedia page link

Runcorn Locks
At Runcorn the Bridgewater Canal was originally connected to the River Mersey by a short flight of canal locks. Commercial traffic continued on the Bridgewater Canal until 1974, but had started to decline around the 1940s. As a result when a large modern bridge was built to cross the River Mersey and access roads blocked the route of the locks, this section of the canal was closed down and the locks filled with sand in case the route could ever be restored.

Leisure boating is now extremely popular in the UK and it is hoped that this stretch of the canal can be re-opened especially as a newer bridge should allow the old access road to be replaced by 2017.

The Timeline Sculpture
The Runcorn Locks Preservation Society promotes the regeneration of this area, and this sculpture stands in a small park area, close to a preserved set of locks. It is in the form of a bollard that is used on canals to hold the mooring ropes when boats moor up.

The list of historic events that affected Runcorn are cast into the edge of the bollard.

8000 BC	-	STONE AGE AXE-HEAD
500 BC	-	CELTS
45 AD	-	ROMANS XX LEG DEVA
915 AD	-	ST. BERTELIN FIRST PARISH CHURCH
1115 AD	-	NORTON PRIORY
1776 AD	-	BRIDGEWATER CANAL
1868 AD	-	RUNCORN GAP RAILWAY BRIDGE
1880's	-	BRUNNER MOND SODA WORKS
1893 AD	-	MANCHESTER SHIP CANAL OPENED
1905 AD	-	LAST FERRYMAN
1905 AD	-	TRANSPORTER BRIDGE
1961 AD	-	SILVER JUBILEE BRIDGE
1887 AD	-	4 WINDMILS

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