The Sankey Canal
The Sankey Canal was originally known as the Sankey Brook Navigation and later as the St Helens Canal. It lays claim to being the first modern canal in England, or the first canal of the industrial age, and indeed it opened before its more famous neighbour, the Bridgewater Canal. To understand this claim, it is necessary to look at how the canal fits into the evolution of waterways. The first artificial waterways in England were constructed by the Romans, including the Foss Dyke between Lincoln and the Trent. In later centuries attempts were made to make rivers navigable by the use of weirs and locks, such as the Exeter Ship Canal, opened in 1566. By the 18th century, rivers such as the Mersey and Weaver were being navigated for some distance, and boats were even getting nearly a mile up the Sankey Brook to Sankey Bridges.
At this time, there was a growing demand for coal by salt manufacturers on the Weaver and new industries in Liverpool, but the only means of transporting the abundant coal from around Warrington, Parr and Haydock was by horse or cart over poor roads.
The idea of making the Sankey Brook navigable was put forward and gained support. In 1755 an Act of Parliament was passed to make the brook navigable as far as Broad Oak. So, officially, this was to be a traditional river navigation, but it is believed that the engineers knew that the brook was too shallow and twisting to be of practical use, so they constructed a completely separate canal alongside the brook. So, even though it was known as The Sankey Brook Navigation, it was, in practice, a discrete canal - the first to be built in England in modern times.
It opened as far as the site of the Old Double Lock by 1757 - 6 years before the first part of the Bridgewater Canal opened. Yet the Bridgewater is often proclaimed to be the first canal, since it was openly promoted as a canal rather than a river navigation! It is thought that the idea of building a separate canal was so radical that the Sankey's financial backers would be frightened away - hence the deception!
The canal was constructed with broad locks to accommodate the traditional Mersey "flats" or sailing barges that already plied the Mersey.
The Penny Bridge branch was extended to Stanley Colliery at Blackbrook Quay in 1770. Between 1770 and 1772 a further branch was constructed, south from the Gerard's Bridge branch, to Boardmans Bridge, south of the present St Helens railway station. This branch was reached by the construction of the New Double Lock and eventually came to be regarded as the "main line"
The canal from St Helens to Ravenhead was infilled in 1898 as part of the extension of Pilkingtons' glass works. From 1900 traffic on the upper section of the canal dwindled and by the 1930s, the canal above Newton Common had been closed to navigation, with many of the bridges being replaced by fixed bridges.
Sugar was still being carried to the Sankey Sugar Company in Earlestown until the 1950s but after that trade ceased the canal was officially abandoned in 1963.
Some parts of the canal have been built over or drained but large stretches are still in water.
The Sankey Canal Restoration Society (SCARS) was formed in 1985 to try to prevent further deterioration and begin restoration. They have put forward a proposal to construct a new 4 mile link to the Leigh Branch of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, which would connect the Sankey to the main canal system for the first time!
Bewsey Lock
This lock marks the boundary of a stretch of the canal that is in water and a stretch that is not. The canal to the north of the lock is dry, whereas to the south it in water.
An information board next to the lock has the following information.
Post canal closure
Since closure, realigning and diverting of Sankey Brook resulted in the stretch of dry canal bed north of the lock chamber that we see today. This still provides important flood defence, taking excess water from Sankey Brook away from Bewsey, Dallam and Whitecross.
Crossing point
In the early 1980s the crossing point at Bewsey Lock was incorporated into the design of Sankey Valley Park and remains part of the main route through the parkland. The need for a new bridge was identified at the turn of the 21st century and the autumn of 2007 finally saw a bridge built stage-by-stage in-situ at Bewsey Lock. The iron tension rods of the old bridge have been used in the new bridge. Under the new deck the turning mechanism of the old bridge remains ready to be brought back into action one day when the canal is again open to navigation.
Bewsey Lock
Bewsey Lock is on the original stretch of canal to the west of Warrington. It was the first lock upstream from the entrance into Sankey Brook at Sankey Bridges. Built from sandstone blocks, the lock chamber measures 76 ft. 9 in. long, 17ft. 7in. wide and is 12ft. 5in. deep with a rise of 5 ft 1 in.
The Lock workings
A lock is a simple ingenious device used to transfer craft from one level of water up or down to another. It consists of a chamber, with isolated area Qf water whose level can be varied. When both sets of gates are closed the lock may be filled Of emptied using the paddles in the gates. The lock gates that survived into the mid 1970s were of timber with green heart frames and larch planking. The balance beams were 15'5" long from the hinge of the gatepost and the upper gates incorporated a footbridge bracketed onto the back of the gates. The paddle lifting mechanism was of cast iron and followed the usual pattern of cogwheels and racks with permanently fitted handles. The tops of the hinge posts were fastened by wrought iron straps on cast iron anchorages flush with the stonework. Adjustment of the gates was by iron wedges.
The lock gates fitted into the stonework and closed in an arrowhead shape to form a watertight seal facing the upper level. The mooring bollards can be seen, as can the gripping stones used to push against when closing or opening the lock gates. The lock had a sluice system, overflow and by-wash channel to take away the excess water, the associated brickwork, inspection chamber and steps can still be seen.
The swing bridge (or turn bridge)
The bridge over the lock chamber swung to the side to allow boats to pass and was one of the unique features of the Sankey Canal along with those of Engine Lock, Newton Common Lock and Hey Lock. It was really a cost cutting exercise using the narrows of the lock to accommodate the bridge and so cutting down on the expense of narrowing the canal somewhere else to build the bridge, The old bridge was the last surviving wooden swing bridge. It would have been operated by the lock keeper or boatman pushing on the swivel end to make it rotate into the recess on the lock side. prior to the boat entering the lock. The bridge was constructed of heavy wooden beams held together with cross members and bolted onto the turning mechanism with decking and railings made of timber planking. The tension rods would have been added to prevent it from sagging when open.