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Home / 2017 / Lancaster Canal in Whittle-le-Woods - January 2017 18

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The South End of the Lancaster Canal opened in stages between 1803 and 1810 from the Leeds & Liverpool Canal (at the foot of Johnson's Hillock Locks) to the interchange basin with the Lancaster Canal Tram Road at Walton Summit. It last carried commercial traffic in 1932 and was officially abandoned in the 1960s to allow the M61 Motorway to cross the route in three places without the need for bridges.
The half mile section through Whittle-le-Woods (between Chorley and Preston) has plenty of interest as can be seen in these photographs. The quarries here were an early source of traffic for the canal.
The two tunnels were originally built as one longer tunnel but this collapsed in 1830, and was replaced by two shorter tunnels.