Leeds and Liverpool Canal
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in the north of England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Over a distance of 127 miles (204 km), it crosses the Pennines, and includes 91 locks on the main line. It has several small branches, and a new link into the Liverpool docks system.
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal main line is 127 iles (204 m) long and crosses the country from Liverpool, Merseyside to Leeds, West Yorkshire. It has two main side-branches, the Leigh Branch and the Rufford Branch. The summit level is at 487 feet (148 m). The canal was built with locks 60ft (18.3m) long and 14ft 3in (4.3m) wide to accommodate the Yorkshire Keel barges already in use on the Rivers Aire and Humber. However, the locks on the Leigh Branch and the mainline between Wigan and Liverpool (and Rufford Branch), were extended to a length of 72feet (21.9m) to accommodate the longer boats trading on the rest of the canal network following the building of the Leigh Branch.
The original Liverpool terminus was at Clarke's Basin in present-day Old Hall Street. This later moved to Pall Mall when land was sold to a railway company. The Leeds end of the canal runs into the Aire and Calder Navigation. At Liverpool a direct connection to the docks via Stanley Dock was built in 1846.
From Liverpool to Appley Locks, the canal runs for 27 miles (43 km) without locks, across the West Lancashire Coastal Plain.
The two main side-branches both connect to other waterways. The Rufford Branch links into the River Douglas and, via the Ribble Link and the River Ribble to the previously isolated Lancaster Canal. The Leigh Branch from Wigan leads to the Bridgewater Canal and thus to Manchester and the Midlands.
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is said to be the longest single canal in England, but it is shorter than the longest canal of all, the Grand Union Canal which was made up of many smaller canals merged together. The Leeds Liverpool Canal includes the southern part of the Lancaster Canal between Johnsons Hillock and Wigan Top Lock.
A very famous part of the canal is at Aintree where it passes close to the racecourse and gives the name to the course's Canal Turn. It has one of the country's most photographed canal features - the Bingley Five Rise Locks at Bingley. Bingley Five Rise and the Burnley Embankment are two of the original Seven Wonders of the canal world chosen by Robert Aikman.
Work is underway on the new £20 million Liverpool Canal Link, due for completion in 2008, which will re-connect the Leeds and Liverpool Canal to Liverpool's South Docks via Stanley Dock, allowing boats to travel past the world-famous Three Graces and into the Albert Dock.
