Stone Bridge 177 On The Lancaster Canal - Sedgwick, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 54° 16.391 W 002° 45.176
30U E 516088 N 6013945
This single arch stone bridge over the canal was built as an accommodation bridge for a nearby farm and is known as Sedgwick Hill Bridge.
Waymark Code: WMYHAD
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 06/16/2018
Views: 1
The northern part of the Lancaster Canal between Tewitfield and Kendal is no longer in use.
Until 1942 the Lancaster Canal connected Preston with Kendal. Known as the Black and White canal it carried coal north from the Lancashire Coalfields, and limestone south from Cumbria.
Apart from the eight locks at Tewitfield the canal followed the contours of the countryside and was very flat.
Competition from trains and roads eventually led to the locks at Tewitfield to be closed and Tewitfield became the northern terminus of the canal.
Nine miles of the old canal north of Tewitfield are still in water because it carries water from Killington Reservoir to supply the bottom part of the canal. Although boats cannot use this stretch of the canal the towpath is well maintained and used by walkers and cyclists. Above this point to Kendal it is no longer in water, but the line of the canal is visible and can be walked.
The Lancaster Canal Trust has been formed to try and reinstate all the canal from Tewitfield to Kendal but this will be difficult as the canal has been blocked at a few points by modern road crossings.
The Bridge
From Stainton northwards the canal has been filled in and the route of the old towpath still maintained as a footpath even though in some sections there is no sign at all that a canal ever existed.
At this bridge there is no real sign of the canal. A public footpath crossed the farm fields and the line of the path goes over the bridge, although it would be as easy to avoid the bridge now that the canal has been filled in.
This bridge is an Historic England Grade II Listed Building.
"Canal bridge. 1818 by John Fletcher, engineer, from the original designs of John Rennie whose route for the canal was authorised in 1792. Squared, coursed limestone with limestone string and coping. Single elliptical arch with rusticated voussoirs and keystone. Flat parapets. Approx 10' wide between parapets. East side built into embankment. Canal now dry."
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