The Canal History
The Rochdale Canal was completed in 1804 and is one of three canals that cross the Pennine hills. This is the only one that doesn’t use tunnels. In addition it was a broad canal with bridges and locks that allowed boats of 14 feet width to pass through.
The one downside of not using tunnels is that it originally had 92 locks. These days two of them have been combined into one deep lock.
Competition from railways and roads subsequently led to a decline in goods being carried and by 1937 the only section left in operation was at the Manchester end of the canal.
In 1965 there was talk of abandoning the canal but by this time leisure boating had become very popular in the UK and there was a campaign to keep it open. Work was started and the canal slowly re-opened in a number of different stages. The whole length finally reopened in September 2007.
All the locks on the canal have a standard length of 72 feet (22 metres).
Details of this lock
This lock is named Gauxholme Lowest Lock and stands immediately to the south west of a very impressive castellated railway bridge.
As the name suggests this is the bottom lock of a set of 3 situated in the small village of Gauxholme. There are a number of industrial buildings along this stretch of the canal, including a warehouse with a wharf that was obviously used for the loading and unloading of goods.
The lock has an integrated wooden foot bridge that gives access to the other side of the canal to allow the lock gates to be operated.
Canal locks always have a way of letting excess water flow past the lock gates. Depending on the lay of the land and the design of the lock the overflow is not always very obvious. In this case there is a side channel where the water can clearly be seen by-passing the lock.
This particular lock has a warning sign saying it should be left empty at all times, but does not explain why.
The affect of this is that if a boat is going up the canal and fills the lock, they then have to empty the lock after use unless a boat is waiting to go down.
This not only means that it adds extra time to the operation of the lock, but also wastes a lock full of water.
In this case the last person to use the lock did not bother to heed the notice and it had been left full.
This lock was made a Grade II listed building by English Heritage in 1984 before the canal was restored,
reference number 1230396.