River douglas Viaduct

[davel]

I know it's not canal history but railways are closely linked to canals and it is very close to the canal near Red Rock moorings on the Leeds and Liverpool.

 

Ange and I took a walk today on the disused railways in this area and found this viaduct that someone left here.

 

 

South end of the viaduct

 

 

2nd arch

 

 

more photos to follow...

Edited December 15, 2009 by davel

[Derek R.]

Let me guess - nothing fell?

[davel]

Sorry - pressed post too early and then wasn't allowed to edit it for some reason! The rest of the pics:

 

 

 

 

Angled arch at south end which another line ran under. I got a bit obsessed with the deails of the brickwork.

 

 

 

Brickwork is deteriorating quite badly

 

 

Another viaduct goes over this one at the north end (the pillars are still there but the span is gone). These two viaducts joined two lines that ran close to each other at this point, forming an x between the lines. One of the lines branched off, and the branch line ran under the angled arch at the south end. There are other disused lines in the area - it must have been a busy place in the railway heyday!

 

For anyone interested the OS reference is SD582087

[Pluto]

Another viaduct goes over this one at the north end (the pillars are still there but the span is gone). These two viaducts joined two lines that ran close to each other at this point, forming an x between the lines. One of the lines branched off, and the branch line ran under the angled arch at the south end. There are other disused lines in the area - it must have been a busy place in the railway heyday!

 

For anyone interested the OS reference is SD582087

If you continue south along the trackbed, you will find that the railway ran through the Haigh Hall Plantation. At about SD588072 are the remains of what is thought to be the Bottling Wood Canal. This was a short tub boat type canal for carrying coal between Bottling Wood Colliery and an ironworks on the River Douglas. There is a short article about the canal in Clogs and Gansey No7, one of the newsletters of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal Society. If you go to http://www.mikeclarke.myzen.co.uk/C&G%20Index.html there is an index to the early editions and you should be able to download the relevant one.

 

Possibly the most interesting railway viaduct in Wigan used to be at SD574054. It was a wood-framed viaduct built by the East Lancashire Railway, one of several which crossed the L&LC. Such viaducts looked very like a seaside pier, and this is the one George Formby Senior was referring to in the song which started the myth of Wigan Pier.

 

The railway bridge on the Springs Branch Railway at the top of Wigan Locks also has a bit of history. The Lancaster Canal originally finished at the top of the locks, and was extended when the railway was proposed so that they had to build a bridge over the canal. At the time, the ancaster still had the idea of extending to West Houghton and the Bridgewater.

[davel]

If you continue south along the trackbed, you will find that the railway ran through the Haigh Hall Plantation. At about SD588072 are the remains of what is thought to be the Bottling Wood Canal. This was a short tub boat type canal for carrying coal between Bottling Wood Colliery and an ironworks on the River Douglas. There is a short article about the canal in Clogs and Gansey No7, one of the newsletters of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal Society. If you go to http://www.mikeclarke.myzen.co.uk/C&G%20Index.html there is an index to the early editions and you should be able to download the relevant one.

 

Possibly the most interesting railway viaduct in Wigan used to be at SD574054. It was a wood-framed viaduct built by the East Lancashire Railway, one of several which crossed the L&LC. Such viaducts looked very like a seaside pier, and this is the one George Formby Senior was referring to in the song which started the myth of Wigan Pier.

 

The railway bridge on the Springs Branch Railway at the top of Wigan Locks also has a bit of history. The Lancaster Canal originally finished at the top of the locks, and was extended when the railway was proposed so that they had to build a bridge over the canal. At the time, the ancaster still had the idea of extending to West Houghton and the Bridgewater.

 

We came off the line at Haigh plantation and walked through the Northern part to get back to the boat, missing the the part you referred to. Perhaps tomorrow we'll ecksplore that bit and see if we can find any remains.

[Pluto]

We came off the line at Haigh plantation and walked through the Northern part to get back to the boat, missing the the part you referred to. Perhaps tomorrow we'll ecksplore that bit and see if we can find any remains.

You should be able to find the canal, though very little has any water in it. It was replaced by a tramway, and all that survives is the dry bed - you need to use your imagination!

[john4647]

The railway bridge on the Springs Branch Railway at the top of Wigan Locks also has a bit of history. The Lancaster Canal originally finished at the top of the locks, and was extended when the railway was proposed so that they had to build a bridge over the canal. At the time, the Lancaster still had the idea of extending to West Houghton and the Bridgewater.

 

I know this is 'Off Topic' but does anyone have a map of the route that the proposed Lancaster Canal was intended to take to meet the Bridgewater

[Ange]

You should be able to find the canal, though very little has any water in it. It was replaced by a tramway, and all that survives is the dry bed - you need to use your imagination!

We're pretty good on the imagination front - you have to be to enjoy eksploring disused railway lines and ruined castles (our other hobby).

 

This one was a real treat though - we normally don't find much more than a few railway fences and, if we're really lucky, the remains of a platform, but to find this magnificent structure, unseen from any roads that we'd been down, took our breath away. We've now visited it from all directions (some of them involving scrambling up and down some pretty muddy embankments) and wish we could get a photograph of the whole structure. We just couldn't find a vantage point far away enough.

 

I am worried that it'll have to be pulled down at some point though if it isn't maintained. There were piles of bricks all around and plants and trees growing out of the structure - at some point it will become a hazard (though in answer to Derek - no, nothing fell on us )

 

We've also visited the stretch just beside where we're moored at Red Rock. It disappears just before the road by the pub (now called Bridge 63 but I believe it used to be called the Railway). We walked a short way towards Adlington, and intend to do the rest of the walk another day, to try to find out where it crossed Adlington and joined the eksisting railway line, it's difficult to make out on the OS map. We did find what used to be Red Rock Station - now a private residence.

[Pluto]

I know this is 'Off Topic' but does anyone have a map of the route that the proposed Lancaster Canal was intended to take to meet the Bridgewater

A full survey was never done, but a Mr Beck did the original survey of 1791 from Gale Moss, near Chorley, to the Bridgewater. He suggested two routes, the first via Hulton Hall, Warton Chapel, Peel Hall and Walkden Moor to Worsley, the second locked down at Chadwell Collieries, probably in the Chorley area, and then on one level via Haigh Ironworks to Worsley. the survey is written up in one of John Rennie's books in the Institution of Civil Engineers Archive,and I have just copied his notes re the Rochdale and Lancaster as I am writing an article about how Rennie planned canals. I haven't had the time to plot the exact line yet, but suspect that Beck's line was not particularly well laid out with regard to the levels. Such preliminary surveys were often done in a matter of days, usually with advice from locals as to the best route. A ore complete survey would have been done once there had been a meeting to promote the canal and raise money.

 

The Lancaster was never completed to West Houghton because of problems with the survey. The line of the canal crossed land owned by the Misses Atherton, but they may not have been consulted before the plans were passed by Parliament. They should have had the right to object, and because they could not, it would proably have required a long and expensive court case to decide on the route.