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The St. Helen's Canal:
"New Cut" to Widnes.
Berthed in the St. Helens Canal are the motor barge ISABEL (1894) and the steam barge BRENDA (1906) ISABEL was built as a steamer, and converted to diesel propulsion in 1920. Owners were the United Alkali Co. Ltd who became part of the Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd. After almost half a century working alkali traffic between Widnes and Liverpool, ISABEL was sold and sank in Langton Dock, Liverpool in 1952. BRENDA was built by W.J. Yarwood & Sons at Northwich for soap manufacturers William Gossage and Sons Ltd. alongside whose factory she is berthed. Her job was to carry barrels of palm oil from Liverpool Docks to Widnes, sometimes returning with soap for export. Gossages were taken over by Lever Brothers and craft were registered in the new owners name in 1932, but BRENDA still carries Gossage’s funnel. In 1946 she was sold to Wadsworth Lighterage and Coaling Co Ltd and she was broken up in Canning Dry Dock, Liverpool in 1964.
Brenda & Isabel, The Mercantile navy list of registered steam vessels, 1919.
The length of this canal is 16 1/2 miles, and is found very beneficial for the exporting of coal, minerals and of conveying sand and other manure to the adjoining lands.
On the navigations and canals hired horses would be employed, or the crew would bow haul for short distances on canals, sometimes aided by the foresail. Because of this, posts were set up by the side of the St. Helens Canal between Widnes and Sankey Bridges to protect the adjacent railway from swinging spars. When steam tugs were generally available, flats were towed on the Mersey, and of course they made use of the tide.
The expense of water transport via the Sankey Canal 1850.
Gaskell-Deacon (left) and Hutchinson's No1 Works (right) as they appeared in later Leblanc times. Workers were rowed across the canal to Hutchinson's No1 Works in the punt-like boat, popularly known as the "coffin," to be seen by the towpath on the right, 1900's.
Here Gossages workers can be seen loading vessels with barrels of bleaching powder on the St. Helen's Canal, 1897.
A barge approaches Widnes locks, possibly waiting for the high tide on the Sankey Canal, 1920's.
The London and North Western Railway (Additional Powers, England) Act, 1865.
Transporting goods from ship to rail on the Sankey Canal, early 1900's.
The charge of sixpence per ton authorised to be made by the 13th section of the Saint Helen’s Canal and Railway Transfer Act, 1864, for all traffic conveyed from the siding of any works or manufactory in the township of Widnes, directly communicating with the railways by the said Act transferred, to the sidings of any other works or manufactory in the said township, shall in all cases include the use of waggons ; and notwithstanding anything in the said Act contained, the company may lawfully demand and receive for traffic conveyed between Widnes Dock, or that portion of the Sankey Canal between West bank Locks and the first bridge crossing such canal, and the sidings of any works or manufactories in the township of Widnes, directly communicating with the lines of railway transferred to them by the said Act, any sum not exceeding ninepence per ton, including dock dues, receiving from the ship and loading on the waggons, or the unloading from the waggons and delivery to the ship, and also the use of waggons.
This photograph was taken across the Sankey Canal and looking at a signal box. The left hand line following the course of the canal leads to Hutchison and Co Chemical works were as the right hand line is the branch down to West Bank Docks and the Atlas Chemical Works. This branch crossed Waterloo Road south of the original SH & RGR line via an ungated crossing, then ran behind the houses of Pitt Street and Milton Street before coming to a triangular junction with the right fork for Atlas and the left for West Bank Docks, 1962.
Where the story really began. The first railway in Widnes to St. Helens started alongside the St. Helens and Sankey Canal, where the Runcorn Gap station used to be. The old Gaskell Deacon Works can be seen on the left, 1963.
This old cobblestone path heading from the Sankey Canal to Sankey Street, dates back to the 1850's when the first inhabitants of Spike Island moved to permanent accommodation around Sankey Street, Water Street & Barn Street leading to Waterloo Road.
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