LOCAL historians fear the breach of the Bridgewater Canal could have a major impact on the village, as it did last time in 1971.
Alan Williams from the Lymm Heritage Centre says the latest breach of the Bridgewater Canal is a tragedy for the canal, its users and in many ways for the whole of Lymm itself.
The canal originally opened through Lymm in the 1770s to provide a route for trade from Manchester to the Mersey estuary and from there to the sea. In more recent times Lymm has become a Mecca for boaters on the Bridgewater Canal.
Lymm Historic Transport Day has annually highlighted its importance but throughout the year it is a popular stopping point for boaters on the Cheshire Ring or for shorter journeys to and from Manchester. The boats in turn are an attraction for day visitors to Lymm who enjoy the simple pleasure of gongoozling (look it up!).
Alan says: “The potential downside for Lymm is clear. Less boats means less visitors. We can only hope that Peel, the ultimate owners via the Bridgewater Canal Company, working in conjunction with the Bridgewater Canal Trust can respond more positively and quickly than last time round in 1971. Then it took a concerted campaign that included the national boat rally being held in Lymm in 1972 before the canal was eventually reopened in September 1973. Peel do not have a great reputation for spending on infrastructure locally as exemplified by the long-running arguments over Latchford Bridge and locks and Warburton Bridge and, to be fair, this is going to be a huge and expensive project to put things right.
One thing that is certain is that we are just at the beginning of the story here.
A ten minute movie produced by Lymm Heritage Centre to understand the local impact of the 1971 breach can be viewed above. The latest breach is of some similar scale, very close to that earlier disaster.
8 Comments
he SWORE on the video ! HE SAID “I THINK ITS ABIT FOOKED” shocking to hear that to be honest !
Really? – it is a word used in very day life and is even listed as a company name on the Government companies house website? If you truly find this word offensive I can only apologise.
I’m slightly confused??? The dates don’t make sense ,to me ?After a boat rally in 1972 the canal was reopened in 1971???
I actually saw the breach in ,1971 and couldn’t believe the wrangling that went on afterwards between Peel holdings ,Lord Stamford et al.,We used to swim there as kids ,it ended up a concrete lined channel but no one had the forethought to included a stop plank grove at each end of the repairs?
For goodness sake just fix it ,its part of The Cheshire Ring
Surely the Canals and River Trust (CRT) will force the Canal owners to repair the damage as quickly as possible or take them to court if they don’t.
The CRT has no power to get it to do anything as it is a private canal with a separate licensing system.
I wonder if Peel would gift the canal to the Canal and River Trust for them to repair and then fully integrate into the nationally owned canal and river system.
Very unlikely. C&RT would require a golden Handshake for excepting such a gift to cover the liabilities and the back maintenance costs.C&RT as a charity need to be exceptionally careful not to take on liabilities they can not fund.
Tax the locals to pay up!