Back Lane Bridge Over Bridgewater Canal - Dunham Town, UK
Posted by: dtrebilc
N 53° 23.290 W 002° 23.901
30U E 540013 N 5915620
This brick built single arch bridge is a distinctly humped road bridge over the Bridgewater Canal.
Waymark Code: WMQC3H
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 02/02/2016
Views: 1
The Bridgewater Canal
"The Bridgewater Canal connects Runcorn, Manchester and Leigh, in North West England. It was commissioned by Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, to transport coal from his mines in Worsley to Manchester. It was opened in 1761 from Worsley to Manchester, and later extended from Manchester to Runcorn, and then from Worsley to Leigh.
Often considered to be the first "true" canal in England, as it relied upon existing watercourses as sources of water rather than as navigable routes. Navigable throughout its history, it is one of the few canals in Britain not to have been nationalised, and remains privately owned. Pleasure craft now use the canal which forms part of the Cheshire Ring network of canals."
link
The Bridge
Like all the original bridges on the canal it is a single arch bridge built of brick that straddles both the canal and the towpath.
The canal always narrows at these bridges to make them cheaper and easier to build. At intervals along the canal grooves are cut into the canal side to take stop planks for when the canal needs to be drained for any reason such as maintenance. Because the canal is narrower at bridges they are convenient places for the stop planks and this is one of the bridges used for that purpose. There is a pile of stop planks next to the northern side of the bridge.