Chorley and South Ribble History Pages

 When were Britain’s canals at their busiest? I dare say most people would nominate the early years of the nineteenth century, when the canal network was at its height, and the railways hadn’t yet begun to take their traffic. But they would be wrong, for the answer is – today. According to a recent article , there are more boats on our canals and rivers now than at the height of the industrial revolution. Of course, the vast majority are leisure or house boats, rather than the freight barges that once dominated the canals, but the nation’s waterways are clearly thriving.   Not all canals, however, made the transition from nineteenth century industrial transport arteries to twenty-first century leisure facilities. Some were abandoned once their original function became obsolete and were subsequently filled in or built over. One such was the South End of the Lancaster Canal, which ran from Whittle Springs, through the centre of Whittle-le-Woods, to a terminus at Walton Summit, from w