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The Rochdale Canal, Manchester

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The Rochdale Canal was a competitor to the Leeds-Liverpool, both aiming to connect cities either side of the Pennines. The Leeds-Liverpool was the first to start construction, but it was the Rochdale Canal that was completed first. And only a few years later, both were losing out to the railways. Although I was setting out to look at the Rochdae Canal, I started at the Ashton Canal. This is just eight miles long, and connects the Rochdale Canal to the Huddersfield Narrow Canal. The Huddersfield Narrow Canal was another canal across the Pennines; less successful than the Rochdale as it was narrow! This is the view from Great Ancoats Street looking west towards the junction with the Rochdale. As you can see the area has been heavily redeveloped, and now looks very attractive. This is the view the other way, looking under the bridge, and you can see how narrow the lock is. This view towards the second lock gives a better idea of how it would have looked a century ago. The huge building to...
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Middleton-in-Teesdale

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Middleton is a small market town in Country Durham. It gained prominence when the London Lead Company moved its headquarters here in 1815 (from Blanchland, and not London as you might expect) - lead mining being important in the area. It was served by a railway from Barnard Castle, which opened in 1868, and terminated here. The station was on the other side of the river to the town, and had connections to three stone quarries. I think when it was built, the station side of the river was in Yorkshire. The station closed to passengers in 1964, and to freight in 1965, leaving the town rather isolated! There are no A roads - the nearest is at Barnard Castle, over 8 miles away - and just two B roads. The town for the most part follows along a single road running west to east - though it seems to have four distinct names at different points. A second road heads south, crossing the river and passing the site of the station. This, then, is the bridge over the Tees, somewhat obscured by trees. ...
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Leeds-Liverpool Canal, Liverpool Exchange Station

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The Leeds-Liverpool Canal was built in sections, with the section going into Liverpool being the first to be started, in 1770. Though it was not the first to open, this section reached Newburgh in 1774, and Wigan in 1781. It would be 1816 before the canal at Wigan connected to the Lancaster Canal, and hence the rest of the Leeds-Liverpool. Its terminus in Liverpool was originally Old Hall Street Basin, where Old Hall Street becomes Great Howard Street, and meet Leeds Street. I wonder if Leeds Street took it name from the canal. In 1846 a short link was built connecting the canal to Stanley Dock, giving access to the rest of the docks - at least until Georges Dock was filled in, at which point access to the south docks was only possible via the river, until a linking canal was built in 2009. A major railway terminus was built not far from here, Liverpool Exchange, in 1850, and the railway was obliged to raise the tracks to clear the canal. Such was the power of the railway companies tha...
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