Lightshaw Meadows - 1720 - 1969 - Bamfurlong, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 29.747 W 002° 34.810
30U E 527851 N 5927507
This information board next to the Leeds Liverpool Canal in the area round Lightshaw Meadows has information about how mining in the area needed better transport links which resulted in the building of canals and railways.
Waymark Code: WMQW7A
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/04/2016
Views: 1
The board is on the towpath of the Leigh branch of the Leeds Liverpool Canal. The Leigh branch connects the Bridgewater Canal at Leigh to the town of Wigan on the main line of the Leeds Liverpool Canal.
The area it passes through, including Lightshaw Meadows had a number of coal mines. The information board has general information about the area and at the bottom of the board is a timeline highlighting events that happened between 1720 and 1969.
1720 Part of the River Douglas made navigable by boats.
End of 18th Century The Industrial Revolution came to Wigan and Leigh.
1759 First Act of Parliament passed allowing the Duke of Bridgewater and his estate manager John Gilbert to build the Bridgewater Canal. This would provide a more efficient way of transporting coal from the Duke's mines in Worsley to Manchester.
1763 The first stretch of the Bridgewater Canal from Worsley to Manchester was completed. The Bridgewater Canal is generally considered the first modern canal in Britain and its construction led to the development of more canals.
1770 an Act of Parliament allowed the construction of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, starting at a junction with the Aire and Calder Navigation in Leeds and ending at the Eldonian Basin in Liverpool. This canal would allow the towns of Yorkshire to trade more efficiently with each other and with the Port of Liverpool.
1773
The first section of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal opens from Bingley to Skipton.
1781 The Leeds and Liverpool Canal arrived in Wigan replacing the older, unsatisfactory, Douglas Navigation.
1795 The Bridgewater Canal was extended from Worsley to the middle of Leigh.
1820 The Leigh Branch of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal was completed. It connected the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, improving the transport links from Leigh to Lancashire, Yorkshire and the Midlands.
1825 Act of Parliament passed to allow the construction of the Bolton - Leigh Railway. This would connect the Leeds and Liverpool Canal with Bolton. The line has now gone, but it travelled from Bolton to Leigh terminating approximately two miles east of here.
1830 The Bolton - Leigh Railway completed. The chief engineer was George Stevenson, a self taught engineer widely known as 'Father of the Railways'.
1831 The Kenyon and Leigh junction opens to passengers connecting the Bolton - Leigh Railway line to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway near Warrington. It was the first public railway in the historic county of Lancashire.
1969 Station at Leigh closed tp passengers in March.
Admission fee? (Include URL/link in Long Description to website that gives the current fee): no
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Visit Instructions:At least one good photo you have personally obtained and a brief story of your visit. Any additions or corrections to the information about the Waymark (for instance, have the hours open to the public changed) will be greatly appreciated.
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