The Sankey Canal, also known as the Sankey Brook Navigation, is a disused canal in Lancashire, in the north-west of England. It was opened in 1757, and originally ran from the mouth of Sankey Brook at the River Mersey along the valley of the Sankey Brook, ending North West of St Helens. An extension was constructed about 18 years later linking the canal to St.Helens (the 'St.Helens Canal'). Lancashire is a county in North West England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... Ferry across the Mersey, June 2005 The River Mersey is a river in north-western England. ... St Helens is a town in the traditional county of Lancashire and the metropolitan county of Merseyside in North West England. ...

Although promoted as an effort to make navigable the Sankey Brook, this is sometimes claimed to be the first wholly artificial canal built in England during the Industrial Revolution. It was, in fact not the first artificial canal, but the 'Longest', at that time. Previous navigations had mixed artificial canals with natural stretches of river, and had also joined rivers together by canal, but this undertaking was unusual in avoiding the Sankey Brook altogether except for a small section at the river Mersey end, although the natural watercourse was used as a supply of water to the navigation. The other artificial canals in England (before this one) were only artificial in between navigated river sections. In one sense the Sankey Canal was really no different in that it connected to a river (the Mersey) after entering a navigated river (Sankey Brook) a quarter mile before. However, it was unusual in that it used and connected to a natural watercourse at one end only, (There we go again, it didn't, you know, because it used the dammed water of the Sankey Brook at it's starting end) and the proportion of this canal in a wholly artificial cut was far higher than other navigations at the time. It may be regarded as a significant evolutionary step in English canals, rather than revolutionary. A Watt steam engine in Madrid. ...

Sankey Canal

The line of the canal was surveyed by Henry Berry (Liverpool’s Second Dock Engineer) and William Taylor, the former being appointed Engineer for the navigation. With Thomas Steers, Liverpool’s First Dock Engineer, Berry had a part in building the earlier Newry Canal in Northern Ireland. Download high resolution version (2304x1728, 1365 KB)Sankey Canal, photograph taken by Lmno on 9 Oct 2004 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Download high resolution version (2304x1728, 1365 KB)Sankey Canal, photograph taken by Lmno on 9 Oct 2004 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Henry Berry, (1719-1812) was Liverpools second dock engineer succedding Thomas Steers. ... Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. ... Thomas Steers was born in 1672 in Kent and died in 1750. ... The Newry Canal, located in Northern Ireland, was built to link the Tyrone coalfields (via Lough Neagh and the River Bann) to the Irish Sea at Carlingford Lough near Newry. ... Motto: (Latin for Who will separate us?)[1] Anthem: UK: God Save the Queen Regional: (de facto) Londonderry Air Capital Belfast Largest city Belfast Official language(s) English (de facto), Ulster Scots, Irish3, Northern Ireland Sign Language, Irish Sign Language Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister of...

The Act of Parliament authorizing the construction of the navigation was passed on 20 March 1755, entitled An Act for making navigable the River or Brook called Sankey Brook, and Three several Branches thereof from the River Mersey below Sankey Bridges, up to Boardman's Stone Bridge on the South Branch, to Gerrard's Bridge on the Middle Branch, and to Penny Bridge on the North Branch, all in the county palatine of Lancaster. The canal was open and carrying coal by 1757: carriage of all goods was charged at 10d (ten old pence – approximately £0.042) per ton. In Westminster System parliaments, an Act of Parliament is a part of the law passed by the Parliament. ... March 20 is the 79th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (80th in leap years). ... 1755 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1757 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... A long ton is the name used in the US for the unit called the ton in the avoirdupois or Imperial system of measurements, as used (alongside the metric system) in the United Kingdom and to some extent in other Commonwealth countries. ...

As the title of the Act states, in addition to the mainline between the Mersey and St Helens, there were three branches to nearby collieries: the South Branch to Boardman's Stone Bridge, near St Helens; the Middle Branch to Gerrard's Bridge; and the North Branch to Penny Bridge.

A second Act of Parliament was obtained on 8 April 1762, amending the earlier act, entitled, An Act to amend and render more effectual, an Act made in the Twenty-eighth Year of the Reign of his late Majesty King George the Second, for making navigable Sankey Brook, in the county of Lancaster, and for the extending and improving the said Navigation. This authorised the extension of the navigation to Fiddler's Ferry on the River Mersey, and to take an additional toll of two-pence per ton, making the rate one shilling (£0.05) per ton. The line of this extension was surveyed by John Eyes. April 8 is the 98th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (99th in leap years). ... 1762 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

An early trial of steam power took place on 16 June 1797, when, according to the Billing's Liverpool Advertiser, dated the 26th, John Smith's "vessel heavily laden with copper slag, passed along the Sankey Canal ... by the application of steam only ... it appears, that the vessel after a course of ten miles, returned the same eveningto St Helen's whence it had set out". This boat was powered by a Newcomen engine working a paddle crankshaft through a beam and connecting rod. June 16 is the 167th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (168th in leap years), with 198 days remaining. ... 1797 (MDCCXCVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 11-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Animation of a schematic Newcomen steam engine. ...

As a result of railway competition, in 1829 Charles Vignoles was instructed to survey a further extension of the canal from Fiddler's Ferry across Cuerdley and Widnes Salt Marshes to Widnes Wharf, West Bank, near Runcorn Gap, making an altnerative connection with the Mersey with another basin. This was authorised by a third Act of Parliament, granted on 29 May 1830, entitled An Act to consolidate and amend the Acts relating to the Sankey Brook Navigation, in the county of Lancaster; and to make a New Canal from the said Navigation at Fidler's Ferry, to communicate with the River Mersey at Widness Wharf, near West Bank, in the township of Widness, in the said county,' repeals the former acts of the 28th George II. and 2nd George III. and incorporates the proprietors under the title of "The Company of Proprietors of the Sankey Brook Navigation." Francis Giles was appointed Engineer for this extension, which opened in 1833. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1829 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Charles Blacker Vignoles (1793-1875) was an influential early railway engineer, and eponym of the Vignoles rail. ... Statistics Population: 53,410 (2001) Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: SJ5185 Administration District: Halton Region: North West England Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: Cheshire Historic county: Lancashire Services Police force: Cheshire Fire and rescue: Cheshire Ambulance: North West Post office and telephone Post town: WIDNES... May 29 is the 149th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (150th in leap years). ... Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix commemorates the July Revolution 1830 (MDCCCXXX) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Francis Giles 1787 - 1847 Bibliography Engineer and surveyor who worked under John Rennie Surveyed the Bull Wall, RIVER IVEL NAVIGATION Reference: Engineers on Easynet Bull Wall RIVER IVEL NAVIGATION Categories: Engineer stubs ... 1833 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...

The canal was built principally to transport coal from the Lancashire Coalfield mines to the growing chemical industries of Liverpool, though iron ore and corn were also important commodities. These industries rapidly expanded, and spread back along the line of the Canal to St Helens, Earlestown, and Widnes, which were small villages until this period. The Sankey can thus be credited with the industrial growth of the region. Coal Coal (IPA: ) is a fossil fuel extracted from the ground by underground mining or open-pit mining (surface mining). ... This heap of iron ore pellets will be used in steel production. ... St Helens is a town in the metropolitan county of Merseyside in North-West England, and within the historic borders of Lancashire. ... Earlestown Town Hall The Viaduct seen from the Sankey Valley Country Park Detail of the viaduct from third arch Earlestown forms the western part of the former urban district of Newton-le-Willows, but is now in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside, England. ... Statistics Population: 53,410 (2001) Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: SJ5185 Administration District: Halton Region: North West England Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: Cheshire Historic county: Lancashire Services Police force: Cheshire Fire and rescue: Cheshire Ambulance: North West Post office and telephone Post town: WIDNES...

Stephenson's Viaduct crossing the Sankey Brook

The Sankey was built for Mersey Flats, the common sailing craft of the local rivers - the River Mersey, River Irwell, and River Weaver - and the Lancashire and North Wales coasts. To allow for the masts of the flats, all the roads in the Canal’s path had to cross it on swing bridges. When the railways were built, they too had to cross in similar fashion. The exception was at Earlestown, where Stephenson erected his massive Viaduct for the country’s first passenger railway from Liverpool to Manchester, leaving 70 foot headroom for the flats’ sails. Download high resolution version (1728x2304, 784 KB)Stephensons Viaduct crossing the Sankey Brook, photograph taken by Lmno on 9 Oct 2004 File links The following pages link to this file: Liverpool and Manchester Railway Newton-le-Willows Sankey Canal Categories: GFDL images ... Download high resolution version (1728x2304, 784 KB)Stephensons Viaduct crossing the Sankey Brook, photograph taken by Lmno on 9 Oct 2004 File links The following pages link to this file: Liverpool and Manchester Railway Newton-le-Willows Sankey Canal Categories: GFDL images ... George Stephenson George Stephenson For the British politician, see George Stevenson. ... Torontos Bloor Street Viaduct bridges the Don valley; road traffic uses the upper deck, rail traffic uses the lower deck. ... A Mersey flat is a two masted, doubled-ended barge with rounded bilges, carvel build and fully decked. ... Ferry across the Mersey, June 2005 The River Mersey is a river in north-western England. ... The River Irwell is a river in Lancashire in England that flows through central Manchester before joining the River Mersey, and one of the rivers that drove the Industrial Revolution. ... The River Weaver The River Weaver is a watercourse running a curving route anti-clockwise across west Cheshire, England. ... Lancashire is a county in North West England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea. ... Approximate extent of North Wales North Wales (known in some archaic texts as Northgalis) is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales, bordered to the south by Mid Wales. ... A swing bridge is a bridge that has its primary structural support at or near to its centre, about which it can then pivot horizontally. ... Earlestown Town Hall The Viaduct seen from the Sankey Valley Country Park Detail of the viaduct from third arch Earlestown forms the western part of the former urban district of Newton-le-Willows, but is now in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside, England. ... George Stephenson George Stephenson For the British politician, see George Stevenson. ... Torontos Bloor Street Viaduct bridges the Don valley; road traffic uses the upper deck, rail traffic uses the lower deck. ... Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough, in the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester, North West England. ...

A staircase (double) lock was built on the Sankey Canal and a second set, later, at Parr, but were not England's first, others having been built on the Exeter Canal. Canal locks in England. ... The Exeter canal was built in 1563 which means it predates the canal mania period and is one of the oldest artificial waterways in the UK. It was built to bypass the blocking of the River Exe by the Earls of Devon. ...

Built primarily to take coal from Haydock and Earlestown down to the Mersey and Liverpool, the final traffic on the Sankey was very different, and in the opposite direction - raw sugar for the Sankey Sugar Works at Earlestown, from Liverpool. The ending of the sugar traffic in 1959 led to the closure of the Canal in 1963. North of the Sugar Works, closure had taken place in 1931, and fixed bridges quickly replaced the old wooden swing bridges. The Canal, however, remained largely in water right up into the centre of St Helens, although its terminus had been truncated in 1898, when Canal Street was built over it. Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ... Year 1931 (MCMXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link is to a full 1931 calendar). ... 1898 (MDCCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

The Sankey’s immediate commercial success, followed soon after by that of the Bridgewater Canal, led to a mania of canal building, and for further extension schemes for the Sankey. One would have linked it to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal near Leigh, to the North-East, and another to the Bridgewater Canal and the Trent and Mersey Canal via an aqueduct over the Mersey at Runcorn to the South-West. Apart from the early extensions to Fiddlers Ferry from Sankey Bridges, for better locking into the River, and in 1775 to St Helens itself, the only major change came with the extension to Widnes detailed above. The Bridgewater Canal is a canal in North West England, near Manchester. ... The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in the north of England running from Liverpool, Merseyside to Leeds, West Yorkshire. ... Arms of Leigh Borough Council Leigh is a town located north of the East Lancashire Road between Manchester and Liverpool in the United Kingdom. ... The Trent and Mersey Canal is a canal linking the River Trent at Shardlow in Derbyshire to the River Mersey at Runcorn in Cheshire. ... Statistics Population: 61,330 (2001) Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: SJ525815 Administration District: Halton Region: North West England Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: Cheshire Historic county: Cheshire Services Police force: Cheshire Constabulary Ambulance service: North West Post office and telephone Post town: RUNCORN Postal district... Sankey Bridges is a district of Warrington, a unitary authority in the north-west of England. ... ...

After 1845, when the St Helens Railway Company took over the then more prosperous Canal Company to form the St Helens Canal and Railway Company, The Sankey Canal became known as the St Helens Canal in the St Helens area and at the Mersey end. The middle section of the canal, running through Great Sankey, is still known as the Sankey Canal. St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway was an early railway company that acted as a feeder to the original Liverpool and Manchester Railway. ...

Much of the Canal is still in water but only the section at Fiddlers Ferry is navigable. The route of the canal forms the Sankey Valley Park.

See also

• Canals of the United Kingdom
• History of the British canal system