Weigh House - Sowerby Bridge, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 42.590 W 001° 54.260
30U E 572317 N 5951796
This toll house is situated at the entrance to a canal wharf and charged tolls based on the weight of gods as weighed outside the building.
Waymark Code: WMTPVK
Location: Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 12/26/2016
Views: 0
The wharf is at a junction of two canals, each of which had different size locks and boats. The Calder and Hebble Navigation opened in 1770 and linked Sowerby Bridge to Wakefield in the east.
A nearby information board has details of the area and tells us that in 1804 the Rochdale Canal was built to connect Sowerby Bridge to Manchester in the west. This provided a link to other canals that connected to Liverpool at Merseyside.
The locks on the Calder & Hobble Navigation were built to accommodate Yorkshire Keels measuring 57ft bins long by 14ft 2ins wide. They are also known as "West Country Boats" and could carry 80 tons.
The locks On the Rochdale Canal measure 72ft long by 14tt 2ins wide. They were built to accommodate Mersey Flats that could carry 90 tons.
Because of this difference in lock size there was a large wharf area with a number of warehouses to transship goods between the different canal boats.
This weigh house was used to weigh those goods that weren't transshipped as they left or arrived at the wharf. The nearby information board also tells us that the first weighing machine was installed at the wharf in 1805. The Weigh House, which also served as a Toll House, dates from the second half of the 19th century. A replica weigh bridge platform has been installed at the front of the building.
These days the building is used by a firm of solicitors.
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