Walking east along the Leeds-Liverpool Canal beyond Shipley, as you draw near to Field Locks, there's this rather ugly bridge that connects the various parts of Esholt sewage works. (It did make quite an effective mono image!) The sewage works itself is a massive site belonging to Yorkshire Water, processing waste for both Bradford and Leeds. Originally developed in 1899, it finally freed our local streams and rivers from being open sewers (though the problem of sewage overspill into our rivers persists even now!) The water treatment site is so large that at one time it had its own internal railway, which perhaps explains this bridge.
Field Locks, beyond, are a bit more attractive. It's a three-rise staircase lock, demanding a lot of concentration to navigate. There are helpful instruction boards but I gather people often get it wrong and cause floods and wasted water. In the summer there are often volunteer lock-keepers on duty to help novice boaters.
Three locks need a lot of steps... all touchingly worn down by the thousands of feet that have tramped up and down over the 250+ years they've been there.
The overflow channel (which probably has a proper name that I can't at the moment recall!) looked pretty with all the lesser celandines blooming on the banking.
There are 91 locks in total on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal, with quite a few of them arranged as staircase locks like these.
After all that excitement, it's a relief to cruise through the fresh spring greenery in Buck Wood.
The worn staircase is a great capture of the ages that the locks have been used. And I would certainly use the sign to know what to do!
ReplyDeleteThose locks would be quite a challenge.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in/near a town with a major canal and several locks (Trollhättan, Sweden) so seeing locks always kind of triggers a spark of nostalgia with me. And yes, that bridge does look like a railway bridge.
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