Lancaster Canal

Introduction

This canal ran north from Preston to Lancaster and on to Kendal with a disconnected portion running south from Walton, south of Preston, to Wigan.

It was built to carry coal etc north from Wigan with limestone coming south. As a result it was known locally as the Black and White canal. It should have been a through link from Wigan but the money ran out before the Ribble could be bridged. The part of the Leeds Liverpool Canal north of Wigan started life as the Lancaster Canal.

The tramroad from Preston Basin to Walton Summit 'bridged' the gap until mid 19c but by then railways were in ascendancy and an aqueduct wasn't built. Preston to Walton Tramroad (Lancaster Canal).

It still did quite well. Coal for Garstang Gas Works came in by canal until 1960s. The northern section (limestone) was apparently leaky and closed 1947(?) but half of it now serves as feeder from Killington Lake reservoir down to navigable section.




Dates

  /  /    Lancaster and Carlisle Railway
Takes over the Lancaster Canal, and thus the Lancaster and Preston Junction Railway. Services to the south from Lancaster Penny Lane diverted to Lancaster Castle.

Portions of line and locations

This line is divided into a number of portions.


Lancaster to Carnforth

Apart from a very short length by the now filled in Kendal Terminus, the only point on the Lancaster Canal where the towpath moves to the east side of ...
Mark Bartlett 15/07/2022
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The view upstream towards the Lune Aqueduct on 1st January 2023. Rennie's masterpiece opened to canal traffic in 1797 and an even bigger structure was ...
Mark Bartlett 01/01/2023
The view astern crossing Rennie's masterpiece, the Lune Aqueduct, heading away from Lancaster towards Carnforth in August 2020. Like many famous ...
Mark Bartlett 02/12/2022
Rennie's Lune Aqueduct from the trackbed of the Lancaster to Wennington line, which is now a cycle track from the city to beyond Caton. The Lancaster ...
Mark Bartlett 01/01/2023
Viewed from the Lancaster to Wennington trackbed, John Rennie's Lune Aqueduct carries the Lancaster Canal across the River Lune on five arches, each ...
Mark Bartlett 24/04/2009
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This bridge carries the Bay Gateway link road across the Lancaster Canal and was completed around 2016. If it were maintained by the Canal and River ...
Mark Bartlett 02/10/2022
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Carnforth to Kendal

Bridge 128 carries Kellet Road over the Lancaster Canal in Carnforth. The original bridge was very narrow and later widened but the later arch is a ...
Mark Bartlett 22/11/2020
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The Lancaster Canal bridges were numbered from early days, if not the start of operations in 1797. Bridge 1 was in Preston and Bridge 188 in Kendal. ...
Mark Bartlett 22/11/2020
Bridge 129A at Carnforth is actually three separate structures over the Lancaster Canal. The most southerly dates from the 1960s when the M6, then a ...
Mark Bartlett 22/11/2020
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Bridge 132 on the Lancaster Canal is an aqueduct that carries the waterway 35' above the River Keer. As with others on this canal it is a John Rennie ...
Mark Bartlett 08/11/2020
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This metal bridge carries the Carnforth to Settle Junction railway over the Lancaster Canal at Capernwray. This view, taken from the aqueduct carrying ...
Mark Bartlett 07/11/2020
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Tewitfield has been the northern limit of navigation of the Lancaster Canal since around 1942. Immediately beyond the motorway bridge embankment are ...
Mark Bartlett 18/10/2020
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Just to the south of Yealand Road Bridge 142 on the Lancaster Canal is this depressing sight. When the M6 Motorway was built in the 1960s the ...
Mark Bartlett 05/12/2020
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Two aqueducts tunnel under the Lancaster Canal near Burton and Holme station. This is the more southerly, over Burton Road, and the headroom is quite ...
Mark Bartlett 26/06/2021
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A picturesque stretch of the Northern Reaches of the Lancaster Canal runs through the village of Holme, as seen here in September 2020. The much lower ...
Mark Bartlett 20/09/2020
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Looking north along the Lancaster Canal at Farleton Basin in September 2020, with an old stable block once used for packet boat horses on the left ...
Mark Bartlett 27/09/2020
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Farleton Aqueduct (Bridge 160) is on the non-navigable Northern Reaches stretch of the Lancaster Canal. The double-centenarian structure carries the ...
Mark Bartlett 27/09/2020
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It is at least eighty years since a canal boat turned round in the winding hole at Dovehouses. The canal north of Tewitfield closed in 1942 and ...
Mark Bartlett 04/10/2020
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Lonely boat. The little 'Water Witch' (named after an original Lancaster Canal packet boat) is owned by the Lancaster Canal Trust and is the ...
Mark Bartlett 02/04/2022
This stable on Wakefield's Wharf at Crooklands has been restored by members of the Lancaster Canal Trust. An information board says that it was used ...
Mark Bartlett 11/10/2020
Looking generally southwards on the northern section of the Lancaster Canal at Crooklands in October 2020. This is Wakefield's Wharf, after the ...
Mark Bartlett 11/10/2020
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The Crooklands Aqueduct (Bridge 165) takes the Peasey Beck underneath the Lancaster Canal. The beck is a tributary of the River Bela, which in turn ...
Mark Bartlett 11/10/2020
In 2020, over eighty years after closure, a short stretch of the Gatebeck Tramway trackbed survives alongside the A65 at Crooklands, climbing away ...
Mark Bartlett 11/10/2020
The main water supply for the Lancaster Canal comes from the reservoir at Killington Lake, near the motorway services of the same name. It travels ...
Mark Bartlett 24/10/2020
Bridge 166, on the Northern Reaches of the Lancaster Canal, carries the B6385 road from Milnthorpe to Crooklands. Alongside the road, all the ...
Mark Bartlett 11/10/2020
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Stainton Aqueduct (Br 171) is very close to the north end of the watered section of the Lancaster Canal, which finishes at Bridge 172. It carries the ...
Mark Bartlett 28/11/2020
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Bridge 172 at Stainton Crossing represents the present head of the watered section of the Lancaster Canal's 'Northern reaches'. This view looks ...
Mark Bartlett 22/11/2020
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To the south of Sedgwick Hall bridge the Lancaster Canal is filled in and has reverted to pasture land. Immediately beyond the bridge the canal is ...
Mark Bartlett 05/12/2020
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This substantial aqueduct (Bridge 178) carried the Lancaster Canal through the middle of Sedgwick village, a short distance to the south of Kendal. ...
Mark Bartlett 05/12/2020
Sedgwick Aqueduct 82575 carried its last commercial traffic in 1947 but the main source of income, coal to Kendal Gas Works, had gone over to road ...
Mark Bartlett 05/12/2020
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Immediately north of Sedgwick village there is another stretch of the Lancaster Canal that is quite poorly defined. In fact, but for the surviving ...
Mark Bartlett 05/12/2020
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Walton Basin to Wigan




Preston to Lancaster

Bridge 38 on the Lancaster Canal is the Hollowforth Aqueduct over the Barton Brook. This comprises three elliptical stone tubes to take the brook ...
Mark Bartlett 15/11/2020
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The Brock Aqueduct (Bridge 46) is another Rennie structure, dating from 1797. It carries the Lancaster Canal 22' above the River Brock on a single ...
Mark Bartlett 13/10/2020
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Glasson Branch