Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
43
Lancaster Canal
Distance
81 km from Stainton to Preston
Highlights
Lune Aqueduct, as painted by JMW Turner
Carnforth Railway Museum with the
Flying Scotsman
Navigation Authority
Canal & River Trust
Canal Societies
Lancaster Canal Trust
The Lancaster Canal Restoration Partnership
Ribble Link Trust Ltd
OS 1:50,000 Sheets
97 Kendal & Morecambe
102 Preston & Blackpool
The Lancaster Canal ran southwards through Cumbria and Lancashire from Kendal to Preston,
a broad-beam contour canal designed by Rennie and constructed between 1797 and 1819. It
had been intended that it should join the Leeds & Liverpool Canal at Wigan but the final link
across the River Ribble was never built and the canal remained isolated, except for a branch in
the centre to the sea. Promoted by Lancaster merchants, it carried coal, lime, slate, timber and
food. It also carried passengers. Despite the hilly terrain, Rennie managed to produce a 92km
run with only a flight of eight locks at Tewitfield and the country's longest level pound below,
68km. This allowed express packets to travel from Preston to Kendal with frequent changes of
horse, averaging 16km/h including changing horses, in the astonishingly quick time of seven
hours in 1833.
