A HISTORY OF THE LANCASTER CANAL

In the middle of the Eighteenth Century; Lancaster was a prosperous town and port. Ideally situated on the west coast, it was the main route between the old and the new worlds. Manufactured goods from the industries of Yorkshire left the country through Lancaster for the developing Americas and returning ships brought in the produce of this rich new territory; which formed the basis for much of Lancaster's industry and prosperity; whilst a few miles to the north at Kendal, snuff and tobacco curing estab­lished itself But there were ominous signs on the horizon!
 As ships grew in size, so did the difficulties of navigating the notorious estuary of the River Lune, thus threatening the prosperity of Lancaster and the smaller port of Milnthorpe, whilst to the south Liverpool was growing in importance.
In an effort to save Lancaster, the merchants proposed building a canal, which, starting at Kendal and running almost due south through Lancaster, would reach Preston from where it would run south-westwards, passing through Leyland to the village of Parbold to join the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, thus providing a direct link between Lancaster and the port of Liverpool.
The famous canal engineer James Brindley responsible for the construction of much of England's canal network, was asked to make a survey, though it is more likely that Robert Whitworth, his pupil, undertook the work.
The scheme did not attract much support in the town. An alternative idea of building a new port at Glasson at the mouth of the Lune found favour; the idea of a canal was dropped. However, there was a still a group who extolled the virtues of having [2ncaster on the canal map and in the 1770's, John Rennie was asked to re-survey the canal. Rennie's proposal followed much of Whitworth's original route to Preston, but here Rennie's line crossed the Ribble then struck out south-eastwards towards Chorley, thence east of Wigan to Westhoughton, for Rennie was basing his canal, not on trade with America, but on coal from the South Lancashire coalfield and limestone from quarries around Kendal and Milnthorpe. Rennie knew from what had happened on the Bridgewater Canal just how valuable a cargo of coal could be, fuelling industry and home alike, but how difficult its carriage on land could be. Limestone was impor­tant not only for building purposes, but also as a soil conditioner and would be in demand in the agricultural belt of West Lancashire. That Rennie proposed that the canal should be capable of taking broad beam craft, up to seventy two feet in let'-', a an indication that he had designs on linking the canal to the Bridgewater Canal, aid thus the main canal system. In the event this did not happen.
Rennie's proposals found favour throughout Lancashire and south Westmorland as Cumbria was then known. An Act of Parliament was obtained, construction beginning in 1792. The company was dogged by financial problems from the start, and by the end of the century only the section from Walton Summit, five miles south of Preston to Wigan, and the section northwards from Preston to Tewitfield, had been completed, the two sections being linked with a temporary tramway However, by 1826 the canal was through to Kendal and a branch to Glasson Dock had been built. The northern and southern sections were never linked by water, the tramway becoming permanent.
Eventually the southern section was leased, then sold, to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and all hope of the canal ever being linked to the main network disappeared. Despite this, the canal flourished, carrying not only coal and limestone, but all manner of goods, until the coming of the railways. At first the railways did not pose a threat, for by the mid-Nineteenth Century the spread of metals from the Midlands had only reached Preston. The canal company had introduced passenger carrying boats and thesepro­vided the most comfortable means of transport then available for travellers in North Lancashire, the 'packet' boats completing the trip from Kendal to Preston (and vice versa) in around eight hours. Even the building of the Lancaster and Preston Railway did not pose a threat; upon its opening the canal company immediately halved its tolls on goods carried on the canal and withdrew the packet boat service south of Lancaster. 
The effect was to force the railway to rely on a small amount of passenger traffic, some­thing it could not afford to do, and this set the scene for something almost unique in waterways history, that of a canal company taking over a railway, and for a time the rail-way and canal operated alongside one another The proposal to build a railway between Carlisle and Lancaster was another matter, since this would take the tracks not only into the area served by the canal, but beyond! The proposal was vigorously opposed by tile canal company, but to no avail. Matters were further complicated because the act authorising the railways construction conferred powers to link into the track of the Lancaster and Preston Railway and also to run through trains to Preston and the South. The canal company tried to fight back by providing as much hindrance as possible to through traffic on the railway, but the final nail in the coffin came when an accident occurred at Bay Horse, south of Lancaster, an express from Carlisle running into the rear of a local train from Lancaster, with a resultant loss of life. After this the canal company was instructed not to resist the passage of trains from the Lancaster & Carlisle Railway and the canal became unable to compete. Eventually the canal was leased by the then London & North Western Railway Company and later bought outright, a special medal being struck to commemorate the event. The Lancaster Canal Company had ceased to exist and this chapter in the history of the canal closed.
Despite this the railway continued to operate the canal, finding it to be an excellent supply of water for depots at Preston, Lancaster and Carnforth, but now the railways were facing competition this time from the roads. Canal traffic to Kendal ceased in 1944 and the last traffic carried on the canal was a consignment of coal from Barrow via Glasson Dock to Storey's at Lancaster.  From Kendal to Stainton the canal was pro­gressively dewatered, having suffered great losses of water through seepage into the porous limestone over which the canal is built. In the 1960's, the Ministry of Transport proposed culverting the canal north of Carnforth in six places, thus denying access to this lovely section of canal. Despite vigorous opposition the Ministry's plans went ahead as the M6 motorway was extended northwards, leaving only forty two of the original fifty four miles of canal north of Preston open to traffic.
Following the transfer of ownership to the London & North Western Railway Company the grouping of railways in 1923 led to a further transfer to the London, Midland & Scottish Railway with railway nationalisation in 1948, control passed to the British Transport Commission, and subsequently by the 1962 Transport Act to the British Waterways Board, in whose control it is today Of the tramway what remains today is in the control of Preston Borough Council and is a public right of way.