Douglas Navigation
Encyclopedia
The Douglas Navigation was a canalised section of the River Douglas
or Asland, in Lancashire, England
, running from its confluence with the River Ribble
to Wigan
. Authorised in 1720, it opened in 1742, but its working life was short, as it was bought out by the Leeds and Liverpool Canal
Company in 1772, to prevent a rival scheme to build a canal to Wigan
. It was connected to the Leeds and Liverpool once that was open, but the upper river into Wigan was replaced by a parallel canal cut, and the lower river was replaced by the Rufford Branch, which utilised part of the river channel near its mouth. The navigation was abandoned by 1801, as the canal provided a better route to the River Ribble.
, a civil engineer and surveyor who had arrived in Liverpool in 1710 to work on building the docks, surveyed the Douglas and recommended that it be made accessible to ships, enabling the transport of coal
from the coalfields around Wigan down to the Ribble, and onwards to Preston. A bill was presented to Parliament in 1713, to allow the river to be improved from its mouth to Wild Mill, but the local landowners objected, and the bill was defeated in the House of Lords
. A series of pamphlets were produced in an attempt to sway local opinion, and with the support of Wigan Corporation, another bill was presented. Again there was opposition, but the bill was passed, and the canalisation of the river from its junction with the River Ribble to Miry Lane End in Wigan was authorised by Parliament
on 7 April 1720, with Steers and William Squire, Esq. of Liverpool as the two proprietors. They were given 11 years to complete the work, and could charge tolls on all goods carried, except for manure, which could not be charged. Commissioners were appointed, who could engage new proprietors if Steers and Squire failed to finish the task.
1720 was the time of the South Sea Bubble, a boom in the stock exchange, and Squire went to London where he raised £6,000 by issuing 1,200 shares against 25 per cent of the profits. The bubble burst two months after the shares had been issued, and Steers, Squire and Richard Norris, who was Squire's brother-in-law, eventually ended up in court, charged with fraud. All denied any wrongdoing, with Steers describing how he had bought land, stone and timber, constructed a lock, and been carrying goods along a 5 miles (8 km) section of the river. He alleged that he had received less money from Squire than he had spent on the work. Squire is believed to have lost most of the money he raised by speculating on the South Sea Bubble. Steers had completed a lock and bridge at Rufford, and had straightened some of the river. Work on the tidal lock at Croston Finney had been started, but with most of the original money now missing, no further work took place. Although the landowners had originally resisted the scheme, and the eleven years to complete it had passed, they revived the idea in 1733, and it was partially complete by 1738, when a contract was made between the commissioners and a colliery owner to deliver 800,000 baskets of coal. Squire and Steers were replaced by Roger Holt of Wigan and Alexander Leigh of Hindley Hall in March 1740, and the navigation was declared to be complete in 1742. An estimated £7,000 had been spent on this second phase of work, and another £1,000 on a fleet of boats.
Canalisation of the river involved the construction of eight locks, with a basin at Miry Lane End, in Wigan, which was connected to the river by a short artificial channel. Steers returned to work on the navigation in the early 1740s, when Leigh asked him for advice. Improvements to the river below Gathurst Bridge began in 1753, with the construction of "Leigh's Cut", but for whatever reason, progress was slow, and the cut was still unfinished in 1771. The main traffic was coal from Wigan, with north Lancashire limestone
and Westmorland slate
travelling in the opposite direction. The working life of the Douglas Navigation was short lived, however.
had been authorised by an Act of Parliament
in May 1770, and an agreement had been made to link the new canal to the Douglas Navigation. The proprietors of the navigation had objected to the aqueduct which would carry the canal over the river at Newburgh, near Parbold, on the basis that it would not be high enough to allow sailing vessels to pass under it. The proposed solution involved the construction of cuts on either side of the aqueduct, so that boats on the river could lock up into the canal, and lock down into the river again. The Leeds and Liverpool would pay £500 in compensation once the work was complete. The Canal Company built the canal in sections, and the first recorded use of boats was on 25 July 1771, on the section from Newburgh to Liverpool.. Water supply was a problem, as the act of Parliament prohibited extraction from the river Douglas. At the time, Alexander Leigh held 29 of the 36 shares in the navigation, and offered to sell them for £14,500 to the Leeds and Liverpool in November 1771. Although they could not really afford the price, they bought them anyway, as they were fighting a new scheme for a Liverpool Canal, which would have connected directly to Wigan. The Liverpool Canal bill was presented to Parliament in January 1772, but was defeated.
Having bought Leigh's shares, the Leeds and Liverpool lost no time in ensuring that they could adequately service the Wigan coal trade. By August 1772, work had started on completing Leigh's Cut and on constructing a junction between it and their canal. This was completed in February 1774, and boats could reach Wigan from Liverpool by travelling along the new canal, then along Leigh's Cut, and finally joining the river at Dean Lock for the final 3 miles (4.8 km) into Wigan. Various repairs to the navigation were made in time for a formal opening in October 1774.
Leigh died shortly afterwards, and the Leeds and Liverpool rented the remaining shares in the navigation from the administrators of his estate. There were calls to bypass the river sections of the old navigation entirely, and work started on a new cut, including two locks, from Gathurst to Wigan. Progress was slow, and it was not finished until 1780. Meanwhile, work on a new canal to bypass the lower sections of the river began in 1777, and the Rufford Branch, which dropped through seven conventional locks and a tide lock to join the river near its mouth at Sollom, was completed in October 1781.
All that remained to be done was to tidy up the legal details. The Leeds and Liverpool obtained another act of Parliament on 24 June 1783, which allowed them to purchase the remaining shares, but did not authorise the original purchase restrospectively. Once the canal was opened, all trade was transferred to it, and the river navigation was effectively abandoned. It was completely unused by 1801. In 1805, Sollom lock on the Rufford branch was abandoned, and a new tide lock was built further downstream at Tarleton
. In order to build the extension, the river was diverted into a new channel further to the east, and the old channel was re-used by the canal. From that time, only the lower portion of the navigation, from Tarleton to the confluence with the Ribble
remained in use.
that this section of the navigation began to see any appreciable traffic.
Despite having been abandoned for 200 years, traces of the navigation can still be seen between Parbold and Gathurst, which include the remains of several locks.
River Douglas
The River Douglas, also known as the River Asland or Astland, is a river that flows through Lancashire and Greater Manchester in the north-west of England...
or Asland, in Lancashire, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, running from its confluence with the River Ribble
River Ribble
The River Ribble is a river that runs through North Yorkshire and Lancashire, in northern England. The river's drainage basin also includes parts of Greater Manchester around Wigan.-Geography:...
to Wigan
Wigan
Wigan is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It stands on the River Douglas, south-west of Bolton, north of Warrington and west-northwest of Manchester. Wigan is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its administrative centre. The town of Wigan had a total...
. Authorised in 1720, it opened in 1742, but its working life was short, as it was bought out by the Leeds and Liverpool Canal
Leeds and Liverpool Canal
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Over a distance of , it crosses the Pennines, and includes 91 locks on the main line...
Company in 1772, to prevent a rival scheme to build a canal to Wigan
Wigan
Wigan is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It stands on the River Douglas, south-west of Bolton, north of Warrington and west-northwest of Manchester. Wigan is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its administrative centre. The town of Wigan had a total...
. It was connected to the Leeds and Liverpool once that was open, but the upper river into Wigan was replaced by a parallel canal cut, and the lower river was replaced by the Rufford Branch, which utilised part of the river channel near its mouth. The navigation was abandoned by 1801, as the canal provided a better route to the River Ribble.
History
In 1712, Thomas SteersThomas Steers
Thomas Steers was thought to have been born in 1672 in Kent and died in 1750. He was England's first major civil engineer and built many canals, the world's first commercial wet dock, the Old Dock at Liverpool, and a theatre...
, a civil engineer and surveyor who had arrived in Liverpool in 1710 to work on building the docks, surveyed the Douglas and recommended that it be made accessible to ships, enabling the transport of coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
from the coalfields around Wigan down to the Ribble, and onwards to Preston. A bill was presented to Parliament in 1713, to allow the river to be improved from its mouth to Wild Mill, but the local landowners objected, and the bill was defeated in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
. A series of pamphlets were produced in an attempt to sway local opinion, and with the support of Wigan Corporation, another bill was presented. Again there was opposition, but the bill was passed, and the canalisation of the river from its junction with the River Ribble to Miry Lane End in Wigan was authorised by Parliament
Parliament of Great Britain
The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland...
on 7 April 1720, with Steers and William Squire, Esq. of Liverpool as the two proprietors. They were given 11 years to complete the work, and could charge tolls on all goods carried, except for manure, which could not be charged. Commissioners were appointed, who could engage new proprietors if Steers and Squire failed to finish the task.
1720 was the time of the South Sea Bubble, a boom in the stock exchange, and Squire went to London where he raised £6,000 by issuing 1,200 shares against 25 per cent of the profits. The bubble burst two months after the shares had been issued, and Steers, Squire and Richard Norris, who was Squire's brother-in-law, eventually ended up in court, charged with fraud. All denied any wrongdoing, with Steers describing how he had bought land, stone and timber, constructed a lock, and been carrying goods along a 5 miles (8 km) section of the river. He alleged that he had received less money from Squire than he had spent on the work. Squire is believed to have lost most of the money he raised by speculating on the South Sea Bubble. Steers had completed a lock and bridge at Rufford, and had straightened some of the river. Work on the tidal lock at Croston Finney had been started, but with most of the original money now missing, no further work took place. Although the landowners had originally resisted the scheme, and the eleven years to complete it had passed, they revived the idea in 1733, and it was partially complete by 1738, when a contract was made between the commissioners and a colliery owner to deliver 800,000 baskets of coal. Squire and Steers were replaced by Roger Holt of Wigan and Alexander Leigh of Hindley Hall in March 1740, and the navigation was declared to be complete in 1742. An estimated £7,000 had been spent on this second phase of work, and another £1,000 on a fleet of boats.
Canalisation of the river involved the construction of eight locks, with a basin at Miry Lane End, in Wigan, which was connected to the river by a short artificial channel. Steers returned to work on the navigation in the early 1740s, when Leigh asked him for advice. Improvements to the river below Gathurst Bridge began in 1753, with the construction of "Leigh's Cut", but for whatever reason, progress was slow, and the cut was still unfinished in 1771. The main traffic was coal from Wigan, with north Lancashire limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
and Westmorland slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
travelling in the opposite direction. The working life of the Douglas Navigation was short lived, however.
Takeover
The Leeds and Liverpool CanalLeeds and Liverpool Canal
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Over a distance of , it crosses the Pennines, and includes 91 locks on the main line...
had been authorised by an Act of Parliament
Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...
in May 1770, and an agreement had been made to link the new canal to the Douglas Navigation. The proprietors of the navigation had objected to the aqueduct which would carry the canal over the river at Newburgh, near Parbold, on the basis that it would not be high enough to allow sailing vessels to pass under it. The proposed solution involved the construction of cuts on either side of the aqueduct, so that boats on the river could lock up into the canal, and lock down into the river again. The Leeds and Liverpool would pay £500 in compensation once the work was complete. The Canal Company built the canal in sections, and the first recorded use of boats was on 25 July 1771, on the section from Newburgh to Liverpool.. Water supply was a problem, as the act of Parliament prohibited extraction from the river Douglas. At the time, Alexander Leigh held 29 of the 36 shares in the navigation, and offered to sell them for £14,500 to the Leeds and Liverpool in November 1771. Although they could not really afford the price, they bought them anyway, as they were fighting a new scheme for a Liverpool Canal, which would have connected directly to Wigan. The Liverpool Canal bill was presented to Parliament in January 1772, but was defeated.
Having bought Leigh's shares, the Leeds and Liverpool lost no time in ensuring that they could adequately service the Wigan coal trade. By August 1772, work had started on completing Leigh's Cut and on constructing a junction between it and their canal. This was completed in February 1774, and boats could reach Wigan from Liverpool by travelling along the new canal, then along Leigh's Cut, and finally joining the river at Dean Lock for the final 3 miles (4.8 km) into Wigan. Various repairs to the navigation were made in time for a formal opening in October 1774.
Leigh died shortly afterwards, and the Leeds and Liverpool rented the remaining shares in the navigation from the administrators of his estate. There were calls to bypass the river sections of the old navigation entirely, and work started on a new cut, including two locks, from Gathurst to Wigan. Progress was slow, and it was not finished until 1780. Meanwhile, work on a new canal to bypass the lower sections of the river began in 1777, and the Rufford Branch, which dropped through seven conventional locks and a tide lock to join the river near its mouth at Sollom, was completed in October 1781.
All that remained to be done was to tidy up the legal details. The Leeds and Liverpool obtained another act of Parliament on 24 June 1783, which allowed them to purchase the remaining shares, but did not authorise the original purchase restrospectively. Once the canal was opened, all trade was transferred to it, and the river navigation was effectively abandoned. It was completely unused by 1801. In 1805, Sollom lock on the Rufford branch was abandoned, and a new tide lock was built further downstream at Tarleton
Tarleton
-Population :-Economy:As a result of soil on the former mossland, a major economic activity in Tarleton is market gardening, particularly growing salad crops....
. In order to build the extension, the river was diverted into a new channel further to the east, and the old channel was re-used by the canal. From that time, only the lower portion of the navigation, from Tarleton to the confluence with the Ribble
River Ribble
The River Ribble is a river that runs through North Yorkshire and Lancashire, in northern England. The river's drainage basin also includes parts of Greater Manchester around Wigan.-Geography:...
remained in use.
Today
With the decline in commercial trade on the canal system, even the final river section became little used, with most pleasure craft venturing only as far as Tarleton Lock, and it was not until 2002, with the opening of the Ribble LinkRibble Link
The Millennium Ribble Link is a Linear Water Park and new navigation which links the once-isolated Lancaster Canal in Lancashire, England to the River Ribble...
that this section of the navigation began to see any appreciable traffic.
Despite having been abandoned for 200 years, traces of the navigation can still be seen between Parbold and Gathurst, which include the remains of several locks.
See also
- Canals of the United KingdomCanals of the United KingdomThe canals of the United Kingdom are a major part of the network of inland waterways in the United Kingdom. They have a colourful history, from use for irrigation and transport, through becoming the focus of the Industrial Revolution, to today's role for recreational boating...
- History of the British canal systemHistory of the British canal systemThe British canal system of water transport played a vital role in the United Kingdom's Industrial Revolution at a time when roads were only just emerging from the medieval mud and long trains of pack horses were the only means of "mass" transit by road of raw materials and finished products The...