Lock 5 On Rufford Branch Of Leeds Liverpool Canal - Burscough, UK - Waterway Locks, Planes and Lifts on Waymarking.com

The main line of the canal is 127.25 miles long and flows from the inland woollen town of Leeds to the coastal sea port of Liverpool, crossing the Pennines along the way. Work on the canal started in 1770 and built in a number of sections and was finally completed in 1816.

This branch off the main line links Burscough to the River Douglas at Tarleton. This was also built in stages between 1760 and 1805.

The canal is a broad canal and the maximum dimensions for a boat to be able to travel on the waterway are 62 feet long and 14 feet wide. The maximum headroom is 7 feet and 8 inches. The maximum draught is 3 feet and 7 inches.

The locks on this canal were designed to carry the ‘short boats’ that had twice the capacity of the narrow boats used on other canals.

The boats were mainly used to carry bulk cargoes such as coal, stone and limestone. Commercial traffic ceased in 1964, but the locks are still used to carry leisure boats which have become very popular. Ironically the leisure craft are often narrow boats, because there are links to other canals, and wider boats would not be able to pass through the locks on the other canals. These locks are wide enough to allow two narrow boats to enter the lock side by side.

Each end of the locks have double gates and are operated manually.

A number of the locks on this branch of the canal have unusual paddle design on the canal bank. The type on this lock is simply a wooden lever that has to be lifted into a vertical position to move the paddle.

There is a stone single arch accommodation bridge over the tail of the lock next to the bottom gates. The lock and bridge combined are an Historic England Grade II Listed Building link

Waterway Name: The Leeds Liverpool Canal (Rufford Branch) Connected Points: Lathom Junction (where it joins the Leeds and Liverpool Canal (Main Line - Liverpool to Wigan)) to Tarleton Junction (where it joins the River Douglas). Type: Lock Date Opened: 01/01/1781 Elevation Difference (meters): 3.00 Site Status: Operational Web Site: [Web Link] Date Closed (if applicable): Not listed

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