Keepers' Cottages

Just down the road from St Patrick's Church and Club stands this isolated cottage (right), just east of where the Sankey Canal was crossed by a swing bridge carrying the A572 (here called Common Road).  The cottage is known as the bridge-keeper's cottage. In this article, Peter Keen throws doubt upon this. The present sandstone bridge which replaced the wooden swing bridge was erected in 1934. This cottage actually looks as if it dates from that period. Perhaps the original keeper's cottage had to demolished when the new bridge was built, and this was built to re-house the then occupant.

1. Islands Brow Cottage

By the time the Society came into existence there were all too few examples of canal architecture remaining. Much of the stone bank of the canal could be traced, various loading wharves and most of the lock chambers were present, even though they might be below a metre of soil and infill and there were some overflow structures worthy of note.

The workshops at Winwick had survived, thanks to the efforts of their tenant and later owner Derek, who spent many hours creating a home there for his family, but the last lock cottages had been demolished in the 1970s leaving nothing above ground level.

This made all the more appealing the possibility of the survival of dwellings assumed to have been built for bridge keepers. In the early days road traffic was light and the skippers of the sailing flats would swing the bridges when needed but as roads became busier time became more precious and a full time bridge keeper would have made sense.

Such buildings can be found at Islands Brow (Merton Bank Road) at Blackbrook (opposite the Ship Inn) and at Penkford, (Pennington Lane).

Only one of the three, the one at Blackbrook, (left) bears any resemblance to the photographs of the lock keepers cottages, which were all built to the same pattern with various modifications. This would clearly benefit from further investigation.

That at Penkford, although at the correct location is totally different, of a much more modern construction and cannot be confirmed as being a canal property.

The building at Islands Brow (right) has been the subject of much discussion. Whilst it is at a suitable location it is totally different to the design of the known lock cottages. The latter are all built with their gable ends at right angles to the canal whereas here the gable end is parallel to the canal. The ground plan is also different to the others. The Ordnance Survey map shows that the building is part of the larger industrial property which originally occupied the site. This had been occupied by a pottery, a tannery, a slaughter house and candle makers before ending its days as a car repair business. There is no documentary evidence of a canal connection so it must be concluded that it did not serve as a dwelling for the bridge keeper…..that is unless anyone knows any different.

Peter Keen

2. Hey Lock

Right: Mr. Edgar Ernest Mottram (1978-1914)

Mr George Stuart Mottram of Hawarden on Deeside, whose grandfather Edgar Ernest Mottram lived in Hey Lock Cottage, sent in these notes and photographs.

Edgar Ernest Mottram was born on the 8th June 1878 in Bunbury, Cheshire. His wife Winifred came from Wales and they move to Hey Lock Cottage with their four children George Walter, Mae, Gladys and John Thomas Glen, some time around 1910. He was employed by the then owners of the St. Helens Canal, the L&NWR, as a canal waterman and presumably his wife would be employed as the lock keeper and that they would live rent free in lieu of any payment for her job.

Edgar died on the 21st May 1914 in the Union Infirmary, Warrington aged 36, his wife continued to live at Hey Lock after his death and married a further two husbands.

Hey Lock Cottage Circa 1920

In the foreground lie stop planks; the two ladies on the left are standing by the swing bridge which crossed the lock. On the cottage wall is a fine set of company rules and regulations and, to the left of the cottage, can be seen a fair number of out-buildings etc.

Colin Greenall

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