Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Tall brick mill buildings crowd the canal in central Lancaster
.
At Bolton Town End, a school complete with bell stands beside the canal. The A6 crosses
and goes on its way. Hatlex swing bridge is usually left blocking the canal. The high-water
mark at Hest Bank is only 200m from the canal. It is hidden from the cut by houses at its
closest point, a nature reserve. The bay is one of the top five wildfowl feeding areas in Europe
with up to 50,000 waders visible, some of which find their way on to the canal. A stone pier,
previously used for transhipping freight between barges and coasters, became disused after
1831 when Glasson Dock was established. A footpath across the Kent estuary to Kents Bank,
probably much older, still runs out from here. The Hest Bank Hotel is an old coaching inn
standing near the canal.
The A6 recrosses before the canal turns sharply past an overflow outlet to the River Lune
and crosses one of the finest aqueducts in Britain. Built in sandstone from 1794 to 1797, it has
excellent proportions and was Rennie's first aqueduct incorporating hidden inverted arches
to spread the stresses and the first to have internal iron bars reinforcing the stonework. The
foundations were made with pozzolana imported from Italy. The Grade I 202m Lune Aque-
duct stands 19m above the river on five 21m semicircular arches that rise 18m from the ri-
verbed.
Curved wing walls and Gothic ends on rustic pillars complete the canal's major engineer-
ing work, a structure that Turner chose to paint. Bulk Road Aqueduct, by way of contrast,
crosses the A683 and was only built in 1961.
Rising above the golf course at its end is the Ashton Memorial of 1907-1909, built in
neoclassical style by Lord Ashton in the 15ha Williamson Park of 1896 in memory of his
wife. The Edwardian era is shown on screen, the Old Palm House has tropical butterflies and
