Disused Sankey Canal - New Double Lock - Gerard's Bridge, UK - Waterway Locks, Planes and Lifts on Waymarking.com

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.

In 1762, a 1.5 mile extension was built at the southern end, from Sankey Bridges to a new lock onto the Mersey at Fidlers Ferry (also known as Fiddlers Ferry). This bypassed the narrow, winding course of the Sankey Brook below Sankey Bridges, that was only navigable at high tides.

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"

In 1830, the company faced competition when construction started on a railway between St Helens and Runcorn Gap. Its response was to go ahead with a further 3 mile extension from Fidlers Ferry to Widnes, which opened in 1833, five months after the railway. The canal extension, with its twin locks onto the Mersey, proved very successful, while the railway's business was disappointing. A toll-cutting battle almost left the railway bankrupt and it was obliged to merge with the canal in 1845 to form the St Helens Canal and Railway Company. The canal continued to carry more tonnage than the railway for many years, but the company began to invest its profits in constructing new railways rather than maintaining the canal.

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!

New Double Lock
The New Double Lock, a two-rise lock staircase, built in 1770 (so-called because further along the canal is the Old Double Lock).

A lock staircase is when two (or more) lock chambers are directly connected, sharing gates and forming a single structure.

Although this stretch of canal is still unused this lock was restored between 1986 and 1992 by the canal society and the local council, in preparation for when the canal is eventually restored. The lock gates are kept open and therefore the lock chambers only have a small amount of water in them.

Waterway Name: Sankey Canal Connected Points: Connected the River Mersey and Sankey - Penny Bridge - Gerard's Bridge Junction Type: Lock Date Opened: 01/01/1772 Date Closed (if applicable): 01/01/1963 Elevation Difference (meters): .00 Site Status: Inactive Web Site: [Web Link]

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