SANKEY MEMORIES

Our appeal in the last issue of CUTTINGS for contributions from Members prompted the following letter from WJ Brinksman of Warrington who provides us with some interesting snippets of information about his early experiences on and around the Sankey.

Having just read one of your "Scars" books, I thought of sharing some of my experiences of the canal.

My first was when I lived at Sankey Bridges, with memories of traffic backed up on Liverpool Road when the drawbridge was lifted, as this was the main road to Liverpool from the south.  I also recall alongside the Mersey White Lead Works a patch of water that had what we used to call "ginny greenteeth" and some of the tales told by grown ups about it, which was a message to keep away from the canal. Further along the canal there was Buttermilk Bridge which had a half barrier across it and also an air raid shelter which was a hanging about place.

Moving from Sankey Bridges to Dallam, another area of the canal was also part of our play areas; starting with Bewsey Bridge which leads to site four on Burtonwood airbase, the original "hogie wagon" was situated here before going into Warrington.  There were also lots of cars permanently parked up there; some appeared to have women residents attracted by the G.I.s.  Moving on there was Bewsey Locks, then a swing bridge at Dallam, of which there was a fatal accident there involving a crew member off one of the barges. On the way to Hulme Lock, this area of Dallam was also where the dredgings were unloaded and put into lagoons for settlement. As children we used to go to Hulme Lock and get rides on the barges to either the second locks which were Winwick Locks, or being much more adventurous, and going to the Sankey Sugar Works and the famous "mucky mountains" and a long walk back to Dallam.

At Hulme Lock there was a railway bridge and it was said at the time that it was one of the few areas that all forms of transport could be seen. There was road transport on Mill Lane, water transport on the canal, rail and it was on the final approach to Burtonwood with air traffic.

Years later I worked with one of the powered barges being used as a packet for Reas when filling Old Quay Lock in. The powered barges were Ellesmere, Ellespont, Ellesweir and Ellesburn which may have been owned by the Wolverhampton Iron Company; the towed barges were all named with Burton as the surname on them.

(Right: Peter Norton's 1957 shot of the Ellesweir, with the Fanny Burton inside, at Sankey Bridges, when they were owned by Burtons, and carried sugar to the Sankey Sugar Works at Earlestown. Burtons bought the Elles– boats from WCI in 1948. They built their own craft, in wood, at Bromborough Pool over a number of years. D.L.)

We would like to thank Mr Brinksman for his kind contribution. It is articles such as this for which we are appealing for, as they give us valuable insights into the many facets of life which the waterway has affected and promoted. If you have anything to tell please let us know.

Our correspondent's final paragraph led me to do some internet searching, and I unearthed the information about the Wolverhampton Corrugated Iron Company on the next page from a family history site. (D.S.)

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

Site design and content © 2002 - 2009 Sankey Canal Restoration Society
Canal Cuttings Editor: David Long Site design: Phil D.Long