Pluto

The first photo is of Parbold Aqueduct (1774), taken from the site of the River Douglas Lock (1741), though nothing remains of the lock. You can scramble down to the river from the canal quite easily. If you want to see another Douglas Lock site, go to Chapel House Bridge and follow the footpath down to the river, look upstream and there is a hollow in the field where the lock used to be. The river bank is in the foreground, and the river curves off to the right and then follows the trees back to the left of the picture in the distance. The lock 'hollow' is top left amongst the grass. Someday I hope to get an archaeological survey done, which may give the exact size of the lock, and thus boats, used on the navigation, which closed in 1781.

On the L&LC in the 1970s, the method depended upon how the balance beams had been fitted, often incorrectly for the canal. The first two photos show balance beams fitted too low, both wood and iron. The L&LC balance beams were built from two sections, the outer, on which you shoved, being fitted on top of the inner, which former the top of the gate. For several years, no one seemed to notice that the gates were built incorrectly. The opposite happened with some steel gates, with the balance beam being almost at head height! When a proper set of gates were set correctly, you just had to lean on the beam watching your boat ascend/descend until you felt a slight 'relaxing' of the gate, telling you the levels were equal, and it was then a simple and easy matter to open and close the gates. A few badly set gates were difficult to move, particularly on Wigan flight, where the subsidence had made balancing the gates a problem. If there are so many problems with difficult to move gates today, I would suggest it is something those hanging the gates ought to sort out. Perhaps they don't know how to do it today, but the canal-trained carpenters I used to know certainly did. To open gates, you have to pull the gates out of the gate recess for both top and bottom gates, and this should be the most strenuous part of opening or closing gates if the levels are correct. It can only be done by pulling using your arms. The L&LC provided iron staples on the lock side next to the end of the beam to hold your feet whilst doing this. Once out of the gate recess, the weight of your body should be enough to complete opening or closing, and could be done from either side of the beam, with your back or belly.

The A&CN force in 1902:

Still going on in 1951, though not a capital offence.

Looks like another long closure: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cervknxz437o

The subject of skew bridges was raised last year by members of the Waterways History Research Group of the RCHS, for which I wrote the attached brief account, and translated Poncelot's history of 1852. Academics are still discussing the best ways to produce designs, but British craftsmen had it pretty much wrapped up by the second half of the 19th century. Those built by Chapman in 1787 on the Naas branch of the Grand Canal in Ireland are considered the earliest true examples. 2023-7 Skew Bridges, Mike Clarke.pdf 1852 Weekly reports of meetings (Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances).pdf

Not the Rochdale, but the Lancaster. It is the section of the canal filled in circa 1960, and the skew bridge carried Fylde Road over the canal. The map below is of the site in 1880.

Numerous canals have been built in Europe for timber rafting, such as all those in Finland. There was also what is known in Germany as 'Trift', which was basically firewood, and canals for rafting or moving Trift were built all over Germany, Czech, Austria and France. Rafting timber, this time for building, was also done regularly on European rivers, and on the L&LC out of Liverpool in the late 18th century, but was stopped on the canal because of damage to locks and other canal infrastructure.

A bill head which shows a canal, with one of the earliest skew bridges illustrated - I have taken the address off the top to make it a little more difficult. It is a pretty good representation when compared to OS maps.

Coal used to be delivered to the new mill at Saltaire by canal, with unloading over the towpath, so there was mooring there for many years. When the mill was first being developed there was a proposal for visitor moorings at the Shipley end of the mill, though neither BW, nor the local council, nor the developer were prepared to fund them. The idea raises its head from time to time, but nothing has happened yet, despite this being one of the country's more successful World Heritage sites.

Semis in Leeds??? They were building back-to-backs until 1937, even though they were prohibited nationally from 1909. It's the capital of Yorkshire, y'know.

On the L&LC they are called pools, not pounds. Lock 20 near the bottom of the flight used to be the best place to stop as there was a really good pie shop just up the road.

You've made me translate an article, pdf below, from 1911 on Swiss waterways suggesting that there was some interest in developing new canals at that time. 1911 Oerstereichische Wasserwirtschaft.pdf

In commercial days it took around 2 hours, though you could leave the gates open, with stories of passing a boat in every pool. From the tonnages carried on the canal this may have just been possible in winter, when coal traffic was at its most intense. It took me around 7 hours in the early 1970s, though this was with a short boat, working single handed, and opening and closing both sets of gates.

Looking through my collection, there seem to have been several waterway proposals in 17th century Switzerland. The Canal d'Entreroches is the best known, but there was also an Aarberger Canal which allowed boats from the C d'Entreroches to get to Bern, from where most of the canal-building finance came from. After the closure in 1829, there were plans to rebuild the canal produced twice in the 19th century. Returning to the original question, there is a book, Steigende Pegel, by Anita Siegfried, ISBN 978-03762-054-0, which tells the story of Pietro Caminada and his canal proposals as a novel (in German).

A storm destroyed an aqueduct, though traffic had been on the decline since the mid-18th century as the condition of roads in the area improved. One article suggests 85% of the traffic was wine, much to the delight of the boatmen.

There were more successful Swiss canals, such as the Canal d'Entreroche, planned to link the Rhine and Rhone. The initial section opened circa 1648, and remained in use until 1829. This is the route of the canal, with a wharf house, as seen in 1995.

Sorry, but my computer didn't like the last quote and wouldn't let me alter or finish it. I meant to say that the L&LCS members who look after Kennet, although they get some pleasure from the work, do it more for the general public and to promote the history of the canal. Kennet and Mersey are the only unconverted short boats on the canal, and Kennet is the only one to which the public have access. Last Sunday we had over 450 visitors on board over the day at Skipton, and though it can be a pleasure chatting to them, it is also time consuming. Heritage is one of the many factors which ensure that our canals stay open, and educating the public is an important aspect of encouraging government to keep funding the system. A few more volunteers would be a help in achieving this aim by educating the public to the benefits and heritage of our canals.

The L&LC Society own and operate their heritage boat Kennet to bring pleasure to others, and to show the public the type of boat used on the canal. Only Kennet and Mersey are

I didn't say there were no deaths, just that I had only come across a small number in records. Craft training is based upon the experience of the trainer, which is fine for most situations. The chance of death or injury increases when the working environment is variable, and that was certainly the case at Blisworth, where the ground conditions were unexpected, as was the case with several other tunnels. Miners were employed on most tunnels, an area of expertise where immigrant labour had long been used. Several mines had employed German miners since Elizabethan times, many coming from the Harz region. Even comparatively recently, water power was used extensively underground there, and there was a navigable adit. The two drawings show the Dorothea mine in section, and an idea of how the navigable adit worked. Going back to the OP, it would be interesting to see a compilation of statistics re deaths during canal construction. Tunnels do seem to have been the most dangerous sites, even during railway building, but what about other types of work. Were there any/many during the construction of Pontcysyllte, for example.

After many years researching canal history, I have come across very few deaths or serious injuries mentioned, either in canal records or in newspapers. I suspect the standard of training was higher 100 to 200+ years ago, and management that had actual experience of what they were managing.

Back in 1971, when working for Peter Froud, he managed to get his trip boat Lapwing stuck on a tree stump which had been thrown into the canal. The stump caught on the bottom of the boat and then rolled over, lifting the stern about 5 inches out of the water. It took ages to pull Lapwing off the stump.

It was probably part of the S&SYN improvement in the 1970s/1980s. Is it part of the Doncaster gas works and refuse site? It is the sort of site which would make a good wharf/storage area.