Harry Arnold's Historic Views of the Sankey
Part 4: Fiddlers Ferry

There are many "historic" features to this January 1964 view (below) of the swing bridge leading to the Ferry Inn: the absence of Fiddlers Ferry Power Station, which was opened a decade later; the long-gone signal box; the gas lamp just in front of it; the cast-iron weight limit sign (right) for the swing bridge; the pipe bridge.

Long gone in the view (below) of the western end of the Fiddlers Ferry area are: steam engines; the crossing and bridge keeper's box and cottage; the moving swing bridge, replaced by a concrete plinth, and the pipe bridge. The concrete structure visible on the right dates from WW1, when the Concrete Seacraft Company launched 1,000 ton barges into the Mersey, built for the Admiralty.

Harry took this series of pictures (below) in July 1961, though the clouds seems as threatening as in his 1964 views. The Ferry Inn is on the extreme right of his view of the Mersey (below top), while the other two pictures show the two ends of the disused lock from the canal to the Mersey. In the third picture the large building left of centre across the fields is Penketh Tannery. Hides for the factory were delivered by Mersey flat to the wharf at Fiddlers Ferry.

Right: Masters of flats entering the canal were told in no uncertain terms of the penalty (40 shillings) for leaving swing bridges open after they'd passed through.

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

Site design and content © 2002 - 2009 Sankey Canal Restoration Society
Site design by Phil D.Long