Talking Points: Lock Cottages and Keepers, by Colin Greenall

As promised in the autumn issue of Canal Cuttings, I will now attempt to put into writing the information which came in as a result of my first article in the summer.

First of all, a few additions and corrections to the list of people living in the cottages:

New Double Lock: Mr. and Mrs. H Thorpe 1934 to 1970
New Double Lock: Mr. Barrow up to 1934
Engine Lock: Mr. and Mrs. S Hill 1816
Engine Lock: Mr. and Mrs. Joe Roberts 1921 to 1937
Widnes Locks: Ezekiah Sandbach 1918 to 1939
Widnes Locks: Harry Ayford 1918 to 1939
Engine Loc: James Lawton (not Lowton) 1850s
Fiddler's Ferry Lock: Mr. and Mrs. Bertham (not Bartham) 1850s

Let's now look at some other details.

One thing that was common to all Lock Cottages, in their early days, was that they had no supply of running water, gas or electricity. This was true for some of the cottages for all their existence.

New Double Locks

Tommy Thorpe lived there with his father and mother; Mr. and Mrs. Hubert Thorpe; plus his two brothers and two sisters. In an interview with Tommy, he tells that the house had three bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen. One of the bedrooms was later converted into a bathroom, presumably when a water supply was laid on. Gas was connected to the house in 1954, but there was never any electricity.

He tells of a boiler in the kitchen, used on washing days, and how his mum would make him, and his twin brother Bert, get into the water as it warmed up. With the orders that "you could only come out when you are clean", she would close the doors on the cupboard, which was built round the boiler, and left them to it. His comment was that many is the time we would be banging on the doors shouting "Mum it's getting a bit hot in here, can we come out?"

His fondest memory of his time living there, was of the many happy hours spent swimming in the canal with his pals on hot summer days.

Old Double Locks

In a telephone conversation, Mr. Mulliner related that he lived at Number 1, Old Double Lock Cottages, from 1931 to 1938. He states that Mr. and Mrs. Culshaw lived in the lock keepers cottage. Mr. Culshaw worked at Southport pit and Mrs. Culshaw looked after the locks. He also said that Joe Roberts from Engine Lock used to bring boats up the Double Locks and sink them along the Blackbrook branch; and that it was he who sunk the flats in Broad Oak Basin. Again, no water was laid on to the cottages; rain water was collected in a water butt and used for washing, etc. Drinking water had to be carried by bucket from the nearby sewage works.

He too described how he learned to swim in the canal and nearby Blackbrook which they used to dam up to form a swimming pool (lovely clear water that was too). Many people drowned or committed suicide in the locks and bodies were sometimes brought into their house.

It seems that some boat movements were still taking place around Southport Collieries and the Blackbrook area, even though the canal was officially abandoned above Newton Common Lock in 1931.

Engine Lock

These notes are taken from a telephone conversation with Mr. Tom Roberts, Junior. The Engine Lock Cottage was occupied by Joe and Edith Roberts from 1921 to 1937. Tom relates that his grand-parents lived at Engine Lock. Joe worked as a lengthsman on the canal, checking sluices and overflows, while Edith was paid 10p (2 shillings) a week for tending the locks. She also ran a small shop selling cigarettes to the miners from Southport Colliery at ½d each plus a match. This meant that she got 2½d for a packet of five, sold singly with a match, instead of 2d if sold as a packet. She had to get up at 4.00 a.m. in the morning, to catch the miners coming on and off shifts. She also sold sweets and lemonade to the children who frequented the area.

Tom's grandmother was also a great swimmer, and was awarded three life-saving awards for pulling her son Thomas and two of his playmates from the canal. Water was obtained by the bucketful from Southport Pit; cooking was done on the fire range; lighting was by oil lamp.

Their daughter, Renee, was also a good swimmer, having learned to swim in the warm water of the canal. It was warm because hot water returned to the canal from the colliery boiler house. By the age of eight, she was diving from the nearby railway bridge to retrieve pennies thrown in by the miners on their way to and from work.

They left the house in 1936, because of subsidence. When they first moved in, they had to climb steps to get into the house. By the time they left, it appears the house had sunk so much that they had to descend a set of steps to get in.

Other Occupants of Engine Lock Cottage (or as it was known in those far off days, Southport or Haydock Lock)

Correspondent John Holden gave me information from his research into the health and welfare of people in the district, also from the 1816 survey of the poor in Haydock, Garswood and Bryn, in the survey it is recorded that:-

Samuel Hill lived at Haydock Lock. He was born in Burtonwood (for poor law purposes he was stated to "belong to the parish"); and was aged 50 in 1816. The household consisted of four people; their ages were 50, 48, 21 and 12. It is assumed that one was Samuel Hill, who was employed as a carpenter by the Sankey Canal Company for 5 shillings a week. One was a weaver then unemployed, but formerly in the employment of a Mr. Penswick. One individual was recorded as being sick.

The families' total weekly earnings were 5 shillings; so we can perhaps assume that Mrs. Hill was the lock keeper who got the cottage rent-free but received no payment for keeping the lock.

This survey was conducted by the Rev. Edmond Sibson of Ashton. He served the local people from 1809 until his death in 1847. His fascinating papers, including the survey of 1816, are available in Warrington Reference Library under the title "the Sibson Papers".

John states that he was unable to discover any further information about the family. They were not buried in Ashton; burial records being usually a readily available source of detailed information about families and individuals.

Mrs. C. Rose of Hungerford, Berkshire, wrote to me asking for information about her great grandfather, James Lawton, who was lock keeper at Engine Lock around 1850. Can anyone contribute any further information about him? She did, however, enclose a photograph of her great grandfather's wife, which hopefully will be reproduced in the next issue of Canal Cuttings.

Many thanks to all those who wrote or phoned in with accounts of life on the Sankey Canal. More material on Engine Lock, Newton Common Lock, etc. will appear in the next issue of Canal Cuttings.

Any further information on this subject should be sent to Colin Greenall, 16 Bleak Hill Road, Eccleston, St. Helens, WA10 4RW; or by telephone on: 01744 731746.

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