Liskeard and Looe Union Canal
The Liskeard and Looe Union Canal is a derelict canal between Liskeard and Looe in the English county of Cornwall . The canal was almost 12 km long and had 25 locks . It opened in 1828 and operated until 1910.
Planning and preparatory work
The first plans for the construction of the canal were made in the 1770s, but it was not until 1823 that the surveying work necessary for the canal construction began under the direction of the hydraulic engineer Robert Coad.
Approval and construction of the canal
A parliamentary resolution was required for the construction. This was issued in 1825 and approved the formation of the Liskeard and Looe Union Canal Company , the raising of capital (£ 13,000 in shares of £ 25) and, if necessary, a mortgage of £ 10,000.
The canal company received the right to draw water, to build the necessary connecting roads and was allowed to allow interested parties to build piers and warehouses. The cost of building the canal was estimated at £ 12,577. The parliamentary resolution stipulated a construction time of a maximum of 5 years, but in 1828 the construction, for which Robert Coad was also responsible, was completed and the canal could be opened to traffic.
Construction work and route
The starting point of the canal was in Tarras Pill in the area of the municipality of Duloe . The route ran from there in a northerly direction to Moorswater near Liskeard . It was about four feet deep and about fourteen feet wide at the bottom. At the waterline the width was about 7.90 m (26 feet). The water for the operation was taken from the river Looe and the river Crylla, some of which was also used for the water supply. The canal was 11,973 m (5 miles 7 furlong ) in length, and at Sand Place there was a branch canal about 1,600 m (1 mile) long. A height difference of 47.5 m (156 ft) was overcome with 25 locks.
business
The canal met the expectations of its builders. In the early years, mainly agricultural products were transported southwards, while fertilizers , limestone and coal to the north were transported . Mining on Caradon Hill north of Moorswater gained in importance in the 1840s , leading to an increase in mineral shipments southward. The ores, mainly copper , tin and lead , were brought by pack horses from Caradon Hill to Moorswater, where they were loaded onto barges.
Railways
Transport by pack horses was difficult and expensive, so in 1843 a parliamentary resolution was obtained that allowed the construction of the Liskeard and Caradon Railway from Moorswater to the mines at Caradon Hill.
In the years that followed, the canal was no longer able to cope with the increasing quantities of goods due to mining. As a replacement, the construction of a railway line running parallel to the canal, the Liskeard and Looe Railway , began. The necessary parliamentary resolution was issued in 1853. The Liskeard and Caradon Railway was shut down in 1917, the Liskeard and Looe Railway is still in operation today as the Looe Valley Line .
literature
- Lawrence Popplewell: The Railways, Canal and Mines of Looe and Liskeard (= Oakwood Library of Railway History. No. 42, ZDB -ID 599814-1 ). Oakwood Press Blandford 1977.
Individual evidence
- ↑ An Act for making and maintaining a navigable Canal from Tarras Pill, in the parish of Duloe, in the county of Cornwall, to or near Moorswater, in the parish of Liskeard, in the said county, and for making several Roads to communicate therewith . Retrieved July 30, 2008 .