Lock 19W On The Huddersfield Canal - Greenfield, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 32.025 W 002° 01.585
30U E 564528 N 5932088
This lock is the 19th from Ashton-Under-Lyne on the west side of the Standedge Tunnel at the summit.
Waymark Code: WMR341
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 05/05/2016
Views: 0
Lock 19W
Being a narrow canal the locks on this canal are also narrow, and this reduces the size of the lock gates compared to a broad canal.
The bottom gates are a double pair as is normal on U.K. broad canals, but the top gate, where the water enters is only a single gate.
The paddles for the bottom gates to let water out of the lock are built into the gates themselves. To let water into the lock at the top gate the paddles are built into the side of the canal.
The lock wall has a ladder that was added when the canal was restored and provides access from the boat at the bottom of the lock to the top of the lock.
This lock has an integrated wooden footbridge to give access to both sides of the lock whilst operating the gates.
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 gate does not go to the bottom of the lock but sits 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.
The Huddersfield Narrow Canal
This canal is one of three that crosses the Pennine Hills and built to provide transport between Huddersfield in Yorkshire and Ashton-Under-Lyne in Lancashire.
As the name suggest it is a narrow canal that although was cheaper to build had less carrying capacity compared to the other two broad canals.
Work started on it in 1794 and partly due to the need to construct the longest canal tunnel in the United Kingdom it was completed 17 years later in 1811.
The canal is only 20 miles long and due to the nature of the terrain has 74 locks even though the summit tunnel reduced the required number of locks. The canal climbs 436 feet from Huddersfield and descends 334 feet to Ashton-Under-Lyne.
In theory having a summit tunnel to reduce the number of locks means that the journey times should be relatively short. However the tunnel does not have a tow path and when it was first opened it was necessary to lead the horses over the moor to the other end of the tunnel. Meanwhile it was necessary to leg the boat through the tunnel. This involved specialist workers who lay on their backs and used their legs with their feet against the tunnel wall to leg the boat through.
Competition from the railways led to the closure of the canal in 1944.
During the 1970s leisure boating in the U.K. had become popular and there were various campaigns to re-open canals that had lain derelict for a number of years.
Work on restoring this canal started in 1981 and the whole canal was finally reopened by 2001. These days the canal is only open to leisure boaters and with the re-opening of other connecting canals it is possible to travel far and wide.
However boats are restricted to maximum width of 6 feet 10 inches and a draught of 3 feet 3 inches which does restrict some boats that are used on the broad canals.
Waterway Name: The Huddersfield Narrow Canal
Connected Points:
Links the Huddersfield Broad Canal at Huddersfield in Yorkshire to the Ashton Canal at Ashton-Under-Lyne in Lancashire.
Type: Lock
Date Opened: 01/01/1811
Elevation Difference (meters): 3.00
Site Status: Operational
Web Site: [Web Link]
Date Closed (if applicable): Not listed
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