Rochdale Canal Lock 20 – Todmorden, UK - Waterway Locks, Planes and Lifts on Waymarking.com

Long Description:

The Canal History
The Rochdale Canal was completed in 1804 and is one of three canals that cross the Pennine hills. This is the only one that doesn’t use tunnels. In addition it was a broad canal with bridges and locks that allowed boats of 14 feet width to pass through.

The one downside of not using tunnels is that it originally had 92 locks. These days two of them have been combined into one deep lock.

Competition from railways and roads subsequently led to a decline in goods being carried and by 1937 the only section left in operation was at the Manchester end of the canal.

In 1965 there was talk of abandoning the canal but by this time leisure boating had become very popular in the UK and there was a campaign to keep it open. Work was started and the canal slowly re-opened in a number of different stages. The whole length finally reopened in September 2007.

All the locks on the canal have a standard length of 72 feet (22 metres).

Details of this lock
This lock is known as Wadsworth Mill Lock. The wooden gates on this lock have a marker indicating they were made in 1997 at Callis Mill in Hebden Bridge.

The lock has a small wooden footbridge to give access to both sides of the canal to operate the lock gates.

The day I visited the lock the level of the canal was high and water was flowing through the lock and over the lock gates.

This lock was made a Grade II listed building by English Heritage in 1984 before the canal was restored, reference number 1230375.

This web site refers to the fact that some locks including this one had a provision for a double set of lock gates. The extra gates are for when smaller boats of up to 57.5 feet went through. This provision would save 50 gallons of water.

It also states that there is no evidence that the system was ever used.

Waterway Name: The Rochdale Canal Connected Points: The city of Manchester on the west side of the Pennine hills and the town of Sowerby Bridge on the east side. Type: Lock Date Opened: 1/1/1804 Elevation Difference (meters): 3.00 Site Status: Operational Web Site: [Web Link] Date Closed (if applicable): Not listed

Visit Instructions:
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Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   1/15/2013 hulletteers visited it