The Breach!
Bridgewater Canal, Worsley
I’ve been following the recent breach of the Bridgewater Canal on YouTube by ‘Taylors Aboard a Narrowboat’ which occurred on the 1st January 2025 at Little Bollington near Dunham Massey.
I’m not sure what or how it happened, although the consensus is that the 16 hours of non-stop heavy rain filled the canal up to the towpath that washed the embankment away from beneath it causing its complete collapse. What is surprising is that this is the second time this has occurred… and at the exact same location. The previous breach occurred on the 2nd August 1971, which isn’t bad considering it was constructed back in 1761, some 260 years ago and I dare say maintenance has been minimal in recent decades.
I’ve learnt a great deal about this canal in the last week –
It’s 39 miles long (65kms)
It runs from the Castlefield Junction (Manchester) to Runcorn (Cheshire) with two arms: the Leigh Arm and the Preston Brook Branch
There are no locks on the canal, it was built at one level and follows the contours of the land to avoid the use of locks.
However, this may be considered its Achilles’ heel. Such a breach could in theory empty the entire canal, but for the inclusion of ‘stop plank’ points along its length. These are simple devices that consist of slots cut into the towpath walls that enable planks to be slotted across the width of the canal to form a temporary (usually wooden) wall to seal off a section of the canal. A crane is usually found at these points to assist in the lowering of the planks.
So, I now know that this crane in my picture is called a ‘stop plank crane’ and the wall can be seen just to the left lying against the embankment. I had a good look at this and it looks in pretty good condition unlike the one that they tried to use to section off the Little Bollington breach which was rotten and failed resulting in probably 10’s of thousands of gallons leaking out of the canal system before an alternative dam could be put in place – the price of poor maintenance!
The Breach!
Bridgewater Canal, Worsley
I’ve been following the recent breach of the Bridgewater Canal on YouTube by ‘Taylors Aboard a Narrowboat’ which occurred on the 1st January 2025 at Little Bollington near Dunham Massey.
I’m not sure what or how it happened, although the consensus is that the 16 hours of non-stop heavy rain filled the canal up to the towpath that washed the embankment away from beneath it causing its complete collapse. What is surprising is that this is the second time this has occurred… and at the exact same location. The previous breach occurred on the 2nd August 1971, which isn’t bad considering it was constructed back in 1761, some 260 years ago and I dare say maintenance has been minimal in recent decades.
I’ve learnt a great deal about this canal in the last week –
It’s 39 miles long (65kms)
It runs from the Castlefield Junction (Manchester) to Runcorn (Cheshire) with two arms: the Leigh Arm and the Preston Brook Branch
There are no locks on the canal, it was built at one level and follows the contours of the land to avoid the use of locks.
However, this may be considered its Achilles’ heel. Such a breach could in theory empty the entire canal, but for the inclusion of ‘stop plank’ points along its length. These are simple devices that consist of slots cut into the towpath walls that enable planks to be slotted across the width of the canal to form a temporary (usually wooden) wall to seal off a section of the canal. A crane is usually found at these points to assist in the lowering of the planks.
So, I now know that this crane in my picture is called a ‘stop plank crane’ and the wall can be seen just to the left lying against the embankment. I had a good look at this and it looks in pretty good condition unlike the one that they tried to use to section off the Little Bollington breach which was rotten and failed resulting in probably 10’s of thousands of gallons leaking out of the canal system before an alternative dam could be put in place – the price of poor maintenance!