What to look out for along Route 2

Stanley Locks

This system of four locks was completed in 1848, finally connecting the canal to Liverpool's Dock system for the first time since its opening in 1774. The locks were designed by Jesse Hartley, who also built Stanley Dock and the Albert Dock. The Stanley Tobacco Bonded Warehouse is visible from here. Built in 1901 and containing 27 million bricks, it is said to be the largest brick warehouse in the world.

Bankhall Warehouse

From 1873, there was investment in improved facilities on the canal to compete with the railways. Bankhall Warehouse was built in 1874 with an integral canal dock so that goods could be loaded and unloaded under cover. This shows the continued importance of canal transport at this time, when this would have been one of many warehouses lining the canal.

Christ Church, Waterloo

Between 1830 and 1930 over nine million emigrants sailed from Liverpool bound for a new life in USA, Canada and Australia. For much of this period Liverpool was the most important port of departure for emigrants from Europe. The tower of Christ Church in Waterloo became a landmark for sailors and would have been the last sight of land for people emigrating to the 'new world'. The tower, with its single spire, was completed in 1899.

Canal bridges

Stanley Road Bridge in Bootle is an example of a changeline or changeover bridge, where the towpath changes sides. The 1790 Leeds & Liverpool Canal Act required all bridges over the canal to be built from stone. Most of the swing bridges around Liverpool were replaced in the years soon after this. As industry developed, more canal bridges appeared and the canal's old hump-backed bridges acted as a restraint on road traffic. Existing bridges had to be replaced by stronger ones as road traffic to and from the north docks increased.

Canal features

A number of features can still be found to remind us of the days when this was a busy working canal. These include old wharves, horse ramps, iron mooring rings and mile, half mile and quarter mile posts. On some bridges, rope marks can be seen from when horses pulled the working boats. Other bridges have surviving cast iron roller bars which stopped the stones being worn away by the ropes. Look out for these as you walk along the towpath.

The Leeds & Liverpool Canal in wartime

During World War Two, Bootle was one of the most heavily bombed areas outside of London. Around 90% of housing in the borough was damaged by enemy bombs. The hail of shrapnel that resulted from the Nazi air raids over Bootle caused widespread shrapnel damage, some of which can still be seen on Boundary Bridge.

Look out for stop plank grooves along the canal. Wooden planks were used for draining the canal for maintenance. During war time, extra stop planks were fitted at night in Liverpool and Bootle to protect buildings from flooding if the canal was damaged by bombing. The canal largely escaped the wartime bombing. However, a photograph from the time shows the impact of an enemy mine which breached the canal near Sandhills, destroying several barges and flooding a nearby railway yard.

Manufacturing along the canal

There are many reminders of the canal's industrial age to be found. Look out for the sign "L M Skinners Coopers". This was a former Coopers warehouse (coopers make casks for transporting goods). Due to the importance of transport and trade to the city, cooperage was once a thriving Liverpool industry, providing barrels for goods including tobacco, salt, gunpowder, cereals, fruit and alcohol, which were transported by ship or barge.

The site of Linacre Lane Gas Works, which supplied gas to Bootle from 1850, is still an imposing presence. Along with the Tate & Lyle Sugar Refinery, it was one of the last major users of the canal for commercial transport. Bricked up doorways indicate where coal was delivered by boat right up until the 1960s. Coal was also delivered by an overhead railway line. The men at the works would get so black from working with all the coal that their faces all looked the same!

Manufacturing industries were major employers in this area for many years, until the closure of the Tate & Lyle and British American Tobacco factories in the 1980s. These closures had a devastating effect on the surrounding communities and marked the end of Liverpool's history as a manufacturing city. Some familiar landmarks of local manufacturers, such as the chimney of Williams's Toffee Works have disappeared with the passage of time.

A load of rubbish!

In the 19th century the 'night soil men' had one of the worst jobs on the canal. They collected the town's refuse, which included horse manure and 'night soil' (human waste). This was removed by horse drawn cart and dumped on canal side manure wharves where it was sorted and loaded into specially adapted boats. In 1890, 172,801 tons of manure and night soil were carried an average distance of 8.78 miles on the canal. Remains of manure wharves can still be seen on the bank of the canal near Sandhills Lane.

Liverpool's rapid population expansion resulted in the need for new ways of dealing with all the rubbish produced. New ways of dealing with Liverpool's rubbish problem were continually sought.

Refuse, including manure, was taken by boat and dumped on West Lancashire farmland, where it was a welcome resource. As the amounts of rubbish in the manure increased, farmers demanded payment for dumping. It became harder to find land, so two steam hopper barges were used to dump refuse out at sea. Rimrose Valley was formerly a land tip for Liverpool's rubbish until the land was reclaimed. The invention of the Refuse Destructor meant that refuse could be burnt, reducing its volume. The last destructor at Stanley Docks was in use until around 1990.

Last updated: 17/12/2008