Rochdale Canal Lock 77 – Miles Platting, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 29.573 W 002° 12.395
30U E 552637 N 5927394
The Rochdale canal is 32 miles long and connects Manchester on the west side of the Pennine Hills and Sowerby Bridge on the east side.
Waymark Code: WMKCA8
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 03/18/2014
Views: 3
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 a summit tunnel. 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 a summit tunnel 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 2002.
Details of this lock
This lock is the
4th deepest lock in England and Wales. During the period when the canal was unused ground subsidence caused by old mining workings occurred in this area. During the restoration work a new channel was constructed for the canal and the lock walls raised by adding a layer of concrete on top of the original stone walls.
The new tow path leading to the lock is about 5 feet higher than the original one.
link
Next to the bottom lock gates is a small metal footbridge that gives access to both sides of the lock for boaters to operate the lock gates. It was installed as part of the restoration work, and after the walls had been heightened.
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.
This lock was at its lowest when I took the pictures and the cill is clearly visible. When the cill is visible it's much easier to understand the hidden danger.