History of the Lancaster Canal

Promoted by wealthy local merchants in the late 18th century, the Lancaster Canal was originally envisaged as a line from the Bridgewater Canal at Worsley through to Kendal. The plans were torn up and redrawn several times, and the final incarnation as seen today bears little resemblance to the original proposals.

The canal's principal purpose was to transport coal north from the Lancashire Coalfields, and limestone south from Cumbria. The nature of these cargoes gave the waterway its local nickname - the Black and White Canal. The Glasson branch (1820) allowed cargo transfer from sea going vessels that could not navigate the shallow Lune Estuary into Lancaster.

John Rennie originally designed two aqueducts, one over the Lune at Lancaster, and one over the Ribble at Preston. But due to demands from local merchants that the Lune aqueduct be built in stone, the company ran out of money to build the Ribble aqueduct! Instead, a tramway was built to connect to Walton Summit. This worked adequately, and so the Lancaster Canal was never connected to what later became the Leeds & Liverpool Canal. Most of the section south of Preston became part of the much-delayed Leeds & Liverpool: a short stub was left from Walton Summit to Preston, which withered and eventually died.

North of Preston, though, the waterway thrived. Because of the lack of locks, the daily Packet Boat passenger service really was 'express' - Kendal could be reached from Preston in an unheard of 10 hours! In fact the service was so comfortable that passengers on the daily runs between Preston and Kendal remained loyal to the waterway for several years after the arrival of the trains.

Roads posed a more serious threat and after a general decline (the last cargo sailing in 1947) the construction of the M6 motorway through the line of the canal finally saw the 14 miles of the Northern Reaches isolated at Tewitfield Locks. The isolated, largely unnavigable section to the north is home to the only tunnel on the Lancaster Canal at Hincaster.

However, the modern age has benefited the Lancaster Canal in one way: the new Millennium Ribble Link. Opened in 2002 as the first new canal for 97 years, this connects the Lancaster to the national network via the River Ribble, the River Douglas and the Leeds & Liverpool Canal's Rufford Branch.