Post by Lewis on Oct 13, 2010 13:09:02 GMT
Mike Clarke will tonight be giving a detailed history of the Leeds to Liverpool Canal, which holds a fascinating history. Come at usual time 7.30pm and please come to the side door opposite Withersponns. Refreshments will be given out upstairs.
...Originally the Leeds & Liverpool Canal was not going to serve the larger towns of East Lancashire. It was planned to follow a route through Padiham, to the north of the River Calder, crossing into the Ribble Valley over an aqueduct at Whalley Nab. Limestone was thought to be the canal’s most important traffic, and this route would have enabled the quarries at Clitheroe to be served by a branch. In the 1760s, when the canal was being planned, people in the Pennines had just realised that by using lime as a fertiliser on their farm land they could increase production. The textile industry was also expanding and needed places where weavers could work on their handlooms. Until then, most workers had lived in single storey houses, but now an additional storey was needed as a workshop. To build a two storey house you need a good mortar, and at that time they used a lime mortar. The workshops also had to be painted to make them light enough for the weavers to see what they were making, so the walls were lime-washed. With all these demands, it is no surprise that the canal’s promoters expected to carry vast amounts of limestone. This had to be burnt to make it into a useful product, and lime kilns were built at many places along the canal....
Learn more by attending tonight
Lewis
...Originally the Leeds & Liverpool Canal was not going to serve the larger towns of East Lancashire. It was planned to follow a route through Padiham, to the north of the River Calder, crossing into the Ribble Valley over an aqueduct at Whalley Nab. Limestone was thought to be the canal’s most important traffic, and this route would have enabled the quarries at Clitheroe to be served by a branch. In the 1760s, when the canal was being planned, people in the Pennines had just realised that by using lime as a fertiliser on their farm land they could increase production. The textile industry was also expanding and needed places where weavers could work on their handlooms. Until then, most workers had lived in single storey houses, but now an additional storey was needed as a workshop. To build a two storey house you need a good mortar, and at that time they used a lime mortar. The workshops also had to be painted to make them light enough for the weavers to see what they were making, so the walls were lime-washed. With all these demands, it is no surprise that the canal’s promoters expected to carry vast amounts of limestone. This had to be burnt to make it into a useful product, and lime kilns were built at many places along the canal....
Learn more by attending tonight
Lewis