History Of Runcorn - 8000 BC to 1961 AD - Runcorn, UK
Posted by: dtrebilc
N 53° 20.488 W 002° 44.570
30U E 517122 N 5910287
This timeline takes the form of a metal sculpture of a canal side bollard. The bollard has stories of the area told by local people, as well as a lsit of significant events in Runcorn's history.
Waymark Code: WMQ0PN
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 11/24/2015
Views: 3
Runcorn
"Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port in the Metropolitan Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, and a member of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. In 2011, Halton's population was recorded to be 127,500, with Runcorn alone being 70,000. The town is on the southern bank of the River Mersey, where the estuary narrows to form Runcorn Gap.
Runcorn was a small, isolated village until the coming of the Industrial Revolution. It was a health resort in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Towards the end of the 18th century, a port began to develop on the south bank of the River Mersey.
During the 18th century water transport had been improved in the area by the Mersey and Irwell Navigation, the Bridgewater Canal and the Trent and Mersey Canal. This gave Runcorn waterway connections with most of the interior of England through the canal system and with the sea along the River Mersey, thus forming the basis for the development of the Port of Runcorn.
In 1894 the Manchester Ship Canal was opened throughout its length. This allowed ocean-going ships to travel inland as far as Salford, some of them calling at the port of Runcorn. " Extracted from this Wikipedia page
link
Runcorn Locks
At Runcorn the Bridgewater Canal was originally connected to the River Mersey by a short flight of canal locks. Commercial traffic continued on the Bridgewater Canal until 1974, but had started to decline around the 1940s. As a result when a large modern bridge was built to cross the River Mersey and access roads blocked the route of the locks, this section of the canal was closed down and the locks filled with sand in case the route could ever be restored.
Leisure boating is now extremely popular in the UK and it is hoped that this stretch of the canal can be re-opened especially as a newer bridge should allow the old access road to be replaced by 2017.
The Timeline Sculpture
The Runcorn Locks Preservation Society promotes the regeneration of this area, and this sculpture stands in a small park area, close to a preserved set of locks. It is in the form of a bollard that is used on canals to hold the mooring ropes when boats moor up.
The list of historic events that affected Runcorn are cast into the edge of the bollard.
8000 BC | - | STONE AGE AXE-HEAD |
500 BC | - | CELTS |
45 AD | - | ROMANS XX LEG DEVA |
915 AD | - | ST. BERTELIN FIRST PARISH CHURCH |
1115 AD | - | NORTON PRIORY |
1776 AD | - | BRIDGEWATER CANAL |
1868 AD | - | RUNCORN GAP RAILWAY BRIDGE |
1880's | - | BRUNNER MOND SODA WORKS |
1893 AD | - | MANCHESTER SHIP CANAL OPENED |
1905 AD | - | LAST FERRYMAN |
1905 AD | - | TRANSPORTER BRIDGE |
1961 AD | - | SILVER JUBILEE BRIDGE |
1887 AD | - | 4 WINDMILS |