Canal Cuttings - the SCARS Newsletter
Volume 5, Number 7 - Winter 2003/2004
Back to index

Map of the Sankey Canal

Left: The 1830 Seal of Sankey's Proprietors. We assume there was also an original seal dating from the Company's formation in 1754, and would welcome hearing from anyone who may have caught sight of it The lock gates at Fidlers Ferry were renewed in 1984 when the marina was constructed there. Boats were built and repaired on the banks of the Mersey at Fidlers Ferry. This view, taken at the end of the 19th Century shows Mersey flats beached beside the workshop at the boatyard. The Sankey Canal Restoration Society was formed in 1985. Monthly Work Parties carry out restoration and archaeological tasks along the Canal. Below - the re-opening of the New Double Lock, SCARS' first restoration project. The Sankey Navigation Act was The Dry Dock at Winwick (below), just beside the M62, is part of the most significant site on the Sankey. It lies on the opposite side of the waterway from the Repair Works. Our Working Parties return there at regular intervals to clear the dock of encr The Lock Cottage at Hulme (below) survived until the mid-1970s. Following vandalism it had to be demolished, and its site was leveled to the extent that there were no traces of either the cottage or the lock. SCARS' Work Parties have since uncovered both In July 2003 the narrow boat EARNEST became the first such craft to enter the Sankey by way of the Fidlers Ferry Lock for well over a century. The lock was one of two built in 1762 when the Canal was extended from its original terminus at Sankey Bridges. Penkford, beside the road from Earlestown to St. Helens, is a regular venue for our Work Parties. No brew-up, no work! The Canal is a major feature of the proposed Eastside regeneration scheme being carried through near St. Helens' Town Centre. A section of canal, filled in decades ago, will be restored as a result. In 1845 the St Helens Railway Company and the Sankey Brook Navigation Proprietors formed a new Company - The St. Helens Canal & Railway Company. Thus the Sankey Canal came to be known as the St Helens Canal. Status of the Waterway - Dotted line: in water, not navigable, or infilled, but able to be restored. Solid line: a diversion is necessary to complete restoration

Index for this issue     Index of all Canal Cuttings issues      Home Page

Site design and content © 2002 - 2005 Sankey Canal Restoration Society
Site design by Phil D.Long