Travelling in the past on the Trent & Mersey Canal

 Rather a warm day today so we are going near the water to cool off a bit.

Coming in from  the Wheelock,Cheshire  direction this narrow boat approaches the first of a few local lockgates which are in pairs.

If you look to the far right you will see the rear of the lockkeepers cottage still in it's unadulturated victorian state with a flight of stairs alongside the tow path.

This view is sadly no longer with us but was taken sometime between 1958 and 1962 where the original lock used to be before it and near enough everything on the right hand side literally fell underground due to subsidence which is an occupational hazard in this district.

This was replaced in 1958 by a Swedish designed steel lock but that tended to jam so fell into disuse so much so that from the 1980's I can recall exploring it and seeing in the summer local boys playing on it.

The fears around accidents and a few near misses lead to it being taken down around 1987/8 rather than being preserved a piece of canal heritage.

The knitters have been out too and decorated our postbox with a model of this area including our very active scout group.