Sankey Canal Restoration Society



Volume 3, Number 9 - Autumn 1997

Correspondence

From: Mr Alan Jones of Moore:

Just a note to offer a correction to Clive Smith's intersting article in CUTTINGS Vol.3, 8, "An Epic Journey". The two old working boats on the cruise were GEMINI and WILLIAM. Clive has confused the Uxbridge Barrel Company-built Royalty class GEORGE with the Yarwoods-built Royalty class WILLIAM.

From: Mr Brian Winnard of Rainhill:

I wonder if you could help me with some information? Any maps I refer to, even some books in my local Library, seem to denote England's first purpose-built canal as the ST HELENS CANAL. It is now regularly referred to as the SANKEY CANAL. I note that SCARS is "The Sankey Canal Restoration Society", and not "St Helens Canal...". Is it the ST HELENS CANAL, or is it the SANKEY CANAL ?

Editor's Response:

Thank you for your enquiry. This is a question which is frequently asked, so although you enclosed an SSAE for a reply, I hope you don't mind if I respond through CUTTINGS.

The answer lies in the history of the waterway, and of SCARS. The Act of Parliament which authorised the building of the canal bore the Title "An Act for making navigable the River or Brook called Sankey Brook" (1755), and referred to those seeking the Act as "the Undertakers of Sankey Brook Navigation". It became known as the Sankey Navigation (in a letter to landowner Peter Legh, July 11th 1755), and this name was used of it in "Williamsons Liverpool Advertiser" on April 21st 1758 etc., and this seems to have been its usual title for the next few years.

When "canal" was introduced into the name is unclear, but in his will of 1812 the builder of the waterway, Henry Berry, bequeathed to his great-nephews a silver cup, presented to him "by the Proprietors of the Sankey Brook Canal Navigation", suggesting that this had been its full title at the time of its presentation, presumably when it was opened in 1757. In the 1818 Inventory of Berry's papers, however, there are the following items listed: (16). Sankey Canal Papers, 1796; (17). Sankey Canal. Acts of Parliament for making of; (19). Berry and Sherratt to the Proprietors of the Sankey Canal Navigation. In 1795 Dr John Aikin described the "Sankey Canal" in his "A Description of the Country for thirty or forty Miles around Manchester".

It should be remembered that, until the Sankey was cut, St Hellens (sic) was a small settlement on the Liverpool-Prescot-Wigan turnpike. The place soon grew, however, as a result of the wealth brought by the navigation, and the march of progress went inexorably on.

In 1833 the St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway was opened, eventually providing a cheaper and quicker means of shifting coal from the coalfields to the Mersey at Widnes. The proprietors of the canal fought back with the extension to Widnes in the same year, but they were wise enough to see that it was a losing battle and, with the canal still highly valued, it was resolved in 1845 by the merging of the two concerns under the title of THE ST HELENS CANAL AND RAILWAY COMPANY. This was more a description of the company's spheres of activity than a re-naming of the canal, of course, and this is reflected in Laird's "Export Trade of Liverpool", with its description in 1850 of "Coal from St Helens to Liverpool by the Sankey Canal". However, over a period of time it would appear that the canal gained the title ST HELENS, perhaps when the SHC&RC passed into the ownership of the more remote London and North Western Railway Company in 1864.

Thus the "official" name of the waterway became THE ST HELENS CANAL, and so it remained in most references for the first half of this century - except when historic accuracy was called for. Thus EA Pratt refers to "The St Helens Canal" in his polemical treatise against the resuscitation of the canal system, "British Canals" (1906), but when attesting the primacy of the waterway in "A History of Inland Transport and Communication" (1912) he states "It is incontestable that the Sankey Brook Canal both started the Canal Era... " When TC Barker wrote his 1948 paper on the canal (obtainable in reprint from SCARS), he entitled it "The Sankey Navigation", and referred to it by the names it was known by in the period of his study - either the SANKEY CANAL or the SANKEY NAVIGATION.

When SCARS was begun in 1985, choosing a name for the Society was one of the first subjects raised by its founders. Influenced as we were by Barker, and having an interest in pushing the historic value and primacy of the canal, we chose to use the earlier title - which also lent itself more easily to the formation of an easily-recognised acronym than "St Helens" would have. However, because the canal is still officially known by the Authorities as the St Helens Canal, we are happy to revert to that when necessary (or if there are funds to be had!), although we are trying to bring about the adoption of the name THE SANKEY/ST HELENS CANAL in official circles. This establishes the connection between the Society and the object of its attentions, whilst satisfying the needs of officialdom for Order and Continuity.

I hope this provides a sufficient answer to your query.

In compiling this response I have used Professor Barker's work, and that of SCARS' Member David Knowles (Dissertation, 1990: In the Beginning, the Sankey Canal Navigation), for which I am grateful.

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