The End of the Sankey - England's Oldest Industrial Canal

The second in a two-part series looking at the Sankey (or St Helens) Canal, England's oldest artificial waterway from the industrial era. In this video I'm continuing my journey from Warrington, where recent flooding has begun to fill in a recently dry bit of canal and another viaduct crosses. I also visit the old lock at Fiddler's Ferry, where the canal is restored for a short section, before becoming overgrown again near the huge coal powerstation. Finally, I look at Spike Island in Widnes - once a busy, dirty place chock full of chemical works and a dockyard railway, now a pretty park where boats can still access the River Mersey.
We'll also look at the reasons why the Sankey was abandoned and why it was never restored, unlike other canals up and down Britain.

[@robertscholey109]

Sad to see Fiddlers Ferry power Station closed, brought power to many of us even if we didnt know

[@amandaleeborchert3745]

Brilliant video and walk through history. Well done! Wishing you a lovely evening from across the pond.🌹

[@BeeHereNowuk]

Thank you!!

[@LandmarkAerialDronePhotography]

Another great video, thanks for sharing. Del 👍

[@ad1987col]

Hi, I’m part of the Sankey Canal group on Facebook. Since the closure of Fiddles Ferry, they water of the canal has subsided so much that some parts of the canal have dried up. The MP’s are involved and so are Warrington and Halton councils. If you have any spare time, could you do a video to highlight this as the fish have had to be moved elsewhere and the locals (including myself) are at a lost cause now. Hope you can see this message. Regards, Adam.

[@steveandthedogs]

I've heard about the Sankey over the years but never actually seen any of it. You must put the hours in doing the research!

[@jetsons101]

A new "Bee Here Now" video---- A great day. Your use of B&W photos and maps really helps with the back story, it's sad to see the image at 0:53 as it shows how so much trash was just tossed in the canal. Your right, the river was moving quite fast in flood. Love to see the pride you have for your history. Thanks for your time and posting.....

[@BeeHereNowuk]

Thanks again Mike. The photos and maps help cover my face when I'm chatting on a bit too much 😁

[@mudbath04]

Brilliant video, I lived in Penketh and Warrington for over 40 years before moving to Preston and still learnt something new despite wandering up and down, that canal also worked in the Ferry tavern for a while on flood alert. The history is so tangible their and a lot of evidence remains, a fav being the rope marks on the 7 arches when the barges were pulled along the tow path that remain to this day. Keep up the good work I look forward to another video.

[@BeeHereNowuk]

Ah great good times!

[@LeiceExplore]

A really enjoyable two part series that was, I thought those locks were very impressive where the Sankey joins the Mersey, good stuff, cheers.

[@jimmycburfield5997]

Brilliant to see Spike Island. What a poignant place.

[@BeeHereNowuk]

Yeah it's full of history

[@kennethstill5945]

Very interesting pair of videos glad they were created. I was one of the Commissioning Eng’rs at Fiddlers at the end of the sixties and lived at Penketh but have learnt so much about the Sankey Canal from these films. The history is fantastic and the old maps showing all the industry really adds to the story. Without all these “nasty things” we wouldn’t have progressed to where we are today! The coal plant stocking out area had to be surveyed for buried poison waste at the west end before the coal could be deposited. I have watched many similar films to these here around Leeds with a similar railway history, it’s great that people makes these with the inclusive maps.(I went from F. F. P. S. to Ferrybridge C P. S. and that’s just a load of rubble now!)

[@ste.h9825]

Another great video,somewhere so close yet I've never seen any of it.Thanks for sharing.👍

[@greg0uk]

Great video. Brought back so many memories of my time growing up in Penketh and Sankey. Lovely pub is the ferry tavern as well.

[@josephinemitchell9504]

So many similarities, especially with the names. When they demolish the cooling towers the memory of them fades as well... 4:27 beautiful blue sky ...the natural angles of the clouds always amaze me.

[@tonywatkinson3523]

Very interesting and informative video, the ferry tavern pub has huge amounts of history. It’s got mark’s on the bar from when the river flooded it on a few occasions, it also got its name from the first licensee as he was the ferry man.

[@timyorke4465]

Spike Island must be most famous for the Stone Roses gig these days! Great vid once again

[@neilbulman2296]

Brilliant 2 episodes mate! :-D

[@BeeHereNowuk]

Thanks Neil

[@mrlister2000]

The Ferry Tavern is notorious for being flooded.

[@ShedTV]

There was always a photo of the flooded Ferry Inn in the Warrington Guardian in the '80s.

[@garethsmith5726]

Excellent, really love the history of the area I live in. I have been in and around Wigan, StHelens and Warrington all my life. What next ?

[@basfinnis]

Amazing spot. Looks very scenic and a great slice of history 😉

[@ShedTV]

Very interesting, thanks! Brought back memories of all of that area having grown up in Great Sankey in the '70s and early '80s. When we were kids, my wife and her brother and I would be sat outside the Ferry Inn (as it was called then) on a plastic chair with a bottle of pop with a straw and a bag of crisps while our parents were inside. I didn't know Fiddlers Ferry had closed; my father-in-law is a retired civil engineer and worked on it when it was being built in the late '60s.

[@socklesslad]

I understand why the power station has been closed but it'll be a shame when the cooling towers go - I think they're amazing pieces of architecture and there aren't that many left now.

[@AndrewG1989]

This is so interesting and wonderful. Sankey does sound very Scouse as it’s on the eastern edge of Liverpool.

[@steviegTVreturns]

Great video as ever Ollie. It’s worth noting that whilst the railway line going past Fiddlers Ferry is currently rarely used, it will form part of the new Liverpool to Manchester railway, through Warrington, so it should thrive once more assuming it happens. I didn’t know there was a station at Penketh.

[@BeeHereNowuk]

I didn't know that about the new line so thank you

[@simonrichards6739]

I remember being a young trainspotter in my teens and seeing double headed class 20’s taking mgr coal trains going through Warrington to fiddlers ferry!

[@ericplace367]

I like the short, old musical recordings you edited in, especially the first one with the fiddle.

[@easytiger652]

Another great video 👍

[@hamshackleton]

Could I point out that the 'filthy polluted smoke' you claim to have been emitted by the FF towers was in fact steam - aka water vapour - the towers were merely enormous radiators that cooled the water that had passed through the steam turbines. The tall narrow chimneys were the output of the boilers! - - - How about covering the Black Bear/Old Quay canal that almost paralleled the Sankey canal? Remnants of that are still in water, too! I believe it pre-dates the canal, but as it was a series of 'cuts' across the zig-zaggy muddy Mersey, itdidn't qualify as a true canal.

[@BeeHereNowuk]

Yeah sorry I didn't make that clear. I've been meaning to look at the other canal one day.

[@ShedTV]

I rember cold winter days when the steam used to make massive grey clouds that hung over Penketh and Sankey.

[@davidmccormack7543]

My favourite Bike route from Carr Mill Dam all the way to Spike Island and then onto trans penine route from Halewood Triangle all the way to Croxteth Park.

[@wrexshunt]

Another fantastic video- many thanks

[@tonyclough9844]

Fiddelers ferry power station provided cheap electricity for all Lancashire. They closed all the small ones down and had big ones, Drax A and B completed the ring for the North of England

[@davemc9268]

Historically there was a fording point of the Mersey connecting Hale Village to Runcorn called Hale ford. It existed up until the time of the building of the Manchester Ship Canal. There were also ferries at the Ferry Tavern, and another somewhere near Widnes run by the monks at Norton Priory. And with Fiddlers Ferry power station no longer feeding the canal, surely there must be an easy and relatively cheap way of feeding the canal from the Mersey.

[@lygase]

Did you go into the Ferry Tavern? There are markers on the bar where the Mersey has flooded the pub over the years. Another cracking vid btw - really enjoyed watching these last two 👌🏻

[@BeeHereNowuk]

I didn't go in actually but i wish I had

[@_wood]

Fiddlers Ferry Power Station can be seen from Lyme Park a National Trust estate near Stockport (Lyme Cage Hill and various other locations). It used to always have a cloud over it even in the hottest midsummer days! In between the Ferry Inn and the Yachting marina Lock and boat yard there used to be another yachting site with a big old boat moored on the Mersey called "the Almara" there was a picture of it in the Ferry Inn. It was owned by a friend of my brother in law. My sister and brother in law used it to go cruising around the coast of Britain. It was a yacht with an auxiliary petrol engine taken from an old Morris van converted to use water from the river or the sea for cooling! Thanks Ollie for a trip for me down memory lane and for an entertaining and informative little series.

[@BeeHereNowuk]

Thanks very much, glad you enjoyed it

[@DanWRS]

Another fantastic video, this is quickly becoming my favourite KZbin channel!

[@BeeHereNowuk]

Thank you! That's very nice to hear!

[@TroyTempest0]

Great vids about the Sankey canal - really enjoyed them ! Thanks for all the work you put into the vids lad ! Very impressive !

[@BeeHereNowuk]

Thank you!

[@laviniajohnson9210]

Great channel, your Edge Lane Railway video was incredible. I grew up as a child in St Helens was taught nothing about the Sankey Canal and the importance of it. Real shame and I bet schools don't teach local history now either.

[@hamshackleton]

There is - or was - another artificial waterway that I believe pre-dates the Sankey. It wasn't a true canal, but it is closely related to the Sankey and the Mersey. It has several names along it's length, starting in Liverpool, as the Old Quay, but partway along it changes to the Black Bear, in the centre of Warrington, and extending towards Manchester. It was a series of 'cuts' bypassing the multiple loops and bends of the Mersey, to make the journey for the boats easier, not having to contend with the vicious currents and all the mud-flats, and having the secondary effect of reducing the travel time by about 50%. If you know where to look, there are still traces of it to be seen.

[@AndyDavies-dv1vl]

The Runcorn to Latchford Canal (aka, Old Quay Canal) was very much a Canal in every sense of the word - at no point along it's 7.5 mile length does it include sections of the Mersey, or any other waterway - it was a whole new channel cutting, from Latchford (or Manor) lock the Mersey below what is now Kingsway bridge in Warrington, to Runcorn Old Quay docks. It dates from around 1805'ish. When the ship canal arrived in the 1890's, the lower section became cut off and the upper (Black Bear) section became connected to the ship canal via Twenty Steps barge Lock below the northern side of the A49 ship canal swingbridge.

[@joeblogs5163]

I spent a few years growing up in Widnes, and cycled along the whole length of the canal from St Helens to Spike Island. It's changed a lot since I was there, I still remember the pub by the canal. I believe ICI Mond has all gone now which was on the right, after FF, just before SI.

[@G6OSV1]

Great video,I was born in Bewaey and the canal and airbase were my playgrounds for many years.I fell into the canal many times,we used to open the bridge and lock gates for the barges memories tha nks.Ian

[@ElliotSoS]

Always a good day when there's a new upload from you! 😊 another brilliant & informative video- thank you!

[@notyhbynorthwest]

Very interesting information about the Sankey Canal. Watched both parts, well produced and full of really good stuff. When I was a lad, I would go to visit friends of the family who lived in Penketh, which is just west of Sankey. Went for walks down to where the Ferry Tavern is, but was far too young to be impressed by the wonderful views and ambiance of the place. Would love to get back there and take it all in someday. I presume the Fiddlers Ferry power station will be dismantled in time. It stood out like a sore thumb, but made a great navigational aid. I vividly remember the odors in the vicinity of Widnes and Runcorn. Please tell me that it is less of an assault on the senses than it was back in the day.

[@davidmccormack7543]

Right up to spike island there is no water now , its all drained as fiddlers ferry no longer supplies the water needed, wildlife has has been reduced because of this.... a very sad ending to spike island

[@johntheman2006]

Excellent Ollie. So informative and entertaining. So nice to see my local area in focus; I’ve lived in Great Sankey for over 10 years now, having moved from L’pool. I’ve worked in St Helens for over 10 years and cycled the very same paths as you just this year in peace and with the family. Great stuff!!

[@BeeHereNowuk]

Cheers!

[@adriannorthcott873]

Another brilliant video Ollie please keep them coming.👍

[@niceviewoverthere4463]

Another brilliant programme. Thankyou.

[@BeeHereNowuk]

Thank you!

[@sarahduffy3118]

Addicted to your videos, they’re so interesting. Right up my street. Have you ever done any in or around Warrington town centre or near the Thelwall Viaduct? Some amazing places to see along the river and canal, full of history too.

[@briwire138]

I've cycled the length of this canal from Spike Island to Carr Mill dam which feeds it with water. It's a shame the section in between Bewsey and Newton has been filled in.

[@RetroBytesUK]

I spent many a happy hour at the Ferry Tavern in my younger days.

[@tolletstalesandtrails6051]

It deserves to be a great outdoor museum to preserve those relics of the past through the different years ,decades and centuries. Besides, exploring untouristry places is more fun. Thanks for the tour. Your new subscriber.

[@SocieteRoyale]

brilliant video as always and such a nice day for it! Love that part of the Mersey with the big sweeping bends and the Ferry Tavern is a great little pub to pop in to when you're out on the bike. Also with regard to Fiddlers Ferry you may notice their is two different spellings for the place! Some parts such as the boat yard label it "Fidlers" whilst the power station is "Fiddlers." I kind of will miss it though, it's such a landmark I am so used to seeing from various places in Liverpool and all over the north west, manages to locate where you are immediately whenever you spot it.

[@davidsedlickas8222]

Excellent narratives great job well done. Keep safe warm dry and virus free

[@BeeHereNowuk]

Thank you! You too

[@MarkCsevensixtwo]

Did you see the sunken Mersey flat in the canal by the Ferry?

[@philtt5698]

Ollie's done another video on the Mersey Flats. He covers the ones at Spike Island.

[@stevewalsh1987]

Cycled this today after seeing your video was a fantastic day out thank you :)

[@davidbutterworth9609]

Great video. I cycle the TPT every year and it’s great to understand the industrial heritage of the area.

[@amacca2085]

I spotted that date stone one day in my way home from work took a picture of it it’s not easy to spot from the path 👍 Fiddlers ferry was converted for biomass but they still closed it anyway

[@TheUllrichj]

Thanks for pulling this together.

[@stuartandrew9091]

Another enjoyable and informative video. I cycled along there just the other day. Please keep up the good work 👍

[@alisonwilliams4862]

You often get the nice weather when you're out, 😎 even in the Winter! I'm jealous cos I've had more of the rainy kind and it just makes the surroundings more gloomy lol.

[@paulspickernell6875]

Thanks for that, have lived in Warrington for 20yrs, but didn’t know the history of the canal, nice one

[@rheingau2011]

Thanks a lot for the journey! Loved it!

[@mikeclarke3882]

Thanks for this Ollie...a great two-parter.

[@andrewpaley9914]

Great video, I live close to Bewsey lock and regularly cycle up and down the canal. The historical info was really useful and I look more closely at the point you highlighted on my next trip along the canal

[@SAM-zt2uy]

How could you visit Spike Island without mentioning the infamous Stone Roses gig.

[@chrism8705]

The sun certainly helped it look beautiful great video

[@lunny74]

A really really good video, thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you !

[@davidjones8680]

Realy enjoyed this. Many thanks. David in Dudley.

[@telquad1953]

Fine pair of videos! My family's old stomping grounds. Thanks.

[@BeeHereNowuk]

Thanks very much

[@DaimlerSleeveValve]

Had an ancestor who worked on barges on the Sankey, convicted in 1808 of stealing 42lb of cotton. When I visited the Ferry Inn, the water had risen to within 6 inches of the TOP of that banking. Warned the staff and left after 1 pint!

[@ccjelley2390]

I think the power station is impressive. Good luck with wind and sun power.

[@AndrewN75]

Wind is providing up to 50% of UK power. It can be a bit low at times but gas cuts in to beef it up and even a bit of coal as a last resort. Solar is barely 3% in total but is working great om my house.

[@RadeyRads]

That pub has been flooded quite a lot over the years

[@andyshacks7812]

Your videos are so informative well researched and well shot. I always enjoy watching them. Thanks Ollie. 🙏

[@missbeebee2399]

Very enjoyable!

[@markusmax8068]

Excellent video as ever, thanks for making it, trans pennines trail is a great bike ride.

[@FredWilbury]

Excellent couple of vids and historical info many thanks also have subbed as I loved your style easy easy 👌😎 regards Fred

[@pcr8918]

We look to the past but freaky to think someone will be watching this in 2121 for their history degree .

[@kennethainsworth1716]

Excellent video, very interesting. How about something on Wigan Pier, the museum etc.

[@theowdgit9790]

Brilliant vid 👍👍👍

[@BeeHereNowuk]

Cheers thank you

[@MrWansty]

great video learnt alot of stuff i did not know , the steel tug at fidlers ferry is one of the tugs built for d-day

[@johnburns4017]

The rail line is to be upgraded as a part of Northern Powerhouse Rail. Liverpool's access to HS2. A new Northern Powerhouse Ral/HS2 station is to be rebuilt at Warrington Bank Quay Low Level with high speed track to the east and upgraded Fiddler's Ferry line from its west.

[@tonyclough9844]

I think the HS2 is being canceled as usual for this area.

[@johnburns4017]

@@tonyclough9844 Not yet. HS2 still firmly on until otherwise. HS2 runs north to a junction east of Warrington at Millington. From there a new Northern Powerhouse Rail high-speed track is to run to Warrington Bank Quay Low Level. From the east of the station trains will continue to Liverpool on the old Fiddlers Ferry coal freight line.

[@tonyclough9844]

@@johnburns4017 I got a bet on it gets canceled, they aren't using the old shell site as a marshaling yard. They aren't electrifying the east west line as the tunnels to small.

[@johnburns4017]

@@tonyclough9844 You may win your bet. But as it stands phase 2b, the Crewe Manchester leg is still officially going ahead. The phase has not been full designed yet as there are problems at the Manchester end. Network Rail are to upgrade the WCML from Crewe to Preston. The HS2 Golborne link to the WCML has been dropped, meaning Scots trains get onto the WCML at Crewe not Wigan. The WCML upgrade means if trains run onto the WCML at Crewe there would be little time penalty over HS2. So phase 2b may be dropped. Are HMG going to spend billions to run a rail line to one provincial city? East-west is not HS2, that is NPR.

[@tonyclough9844]

@@johnburns4017 east west was

[@falsernet]

The Sankey Viaduct is commonly but unofficially known as the 'Nine Arches'. Since the Seven Arches is closer to (Great) Sankey, a Warrington suburb, I find the name to be less confusing. One major issue with the idea of reinstating it is, I believe, the bridge taking Sankey Way (a 1970s New Town dual carriageway) over the canal. I've not investigated the canal's tunnel under but it seems too low to even fit canal barges.

[@DaedalusYoung]

Common Road, leading into Earlestown is also way too low, and most of the canal between the Nine Arches Viaduct and St Helens is completely gone, with the bicycle/foot path built on top of it.

[@malcolmhitchen5158]

Didn't you carry on along the Mersey side of spike island and see whats left of the "Mersey Flats " that were abandoned there ?

[@MegaMollymoll]

Hi have you seen the canal at spike Island since you last visited it, well was thinking you could have another report on tha way that widnes council have left this canal in such a state cheers mate.

[@doggy55915]

Another great video. Did you know one of those cooling towers collapsed in high winds.?

[@markusmax8068]

1983 one collapsed at night, I was a young lad working in gorsey lane.

[@ShedTV]

@@markusmax8068 I remember that night too, I was 11, living in Sankey and it was all anyone was talking about the next day!

[@cteasdale1979]

My. Home town used be Lancashire. St Helens

[@callumchopchop1061]

Well fiddlers ferry power station is going to be demolished soon not sure when but I’m predicting with in the next year

[@2H80vids]

At 9:43 the map shows the canal bridge at Fiddler's Ferry as a "turn bridge", rather than the usual "swing bridge". Anyone know what the difference is?

[@hoyhoytoo6772]

Is the canal associated with Sankey Sugar? When I was young, Sankey Sugar was widely available, not seen it for years.

[@johnburns4017]

He did mention the sugar refinery.

[@BeekeeperShrewsbury]

Another A1 vid. Where did you find the sunshine!!?

[@BeeHereNowuk]

It's always sunny in Lancashire!

[@paulspyker3749]

@5:40 you're in Penketh, Fiddlers Ferry is further down.

[@bilburns1313]

Lol - great - now I can't get the song "Ferry 'Cross The Mersey" out of my head!: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZmmTaWZ4g8aMmaM

[@BeeHereNowuk]

Hahaha great thanks!

[@williamroberts7919]

why thankfully closed down, good luck relying on renewables

[@thomasfilion9064]

Do you know if that's what Pink Floyd used on one of the album covers? The power station.

[@josephinemitchell9504]

Which album

[@thomasfilion9064]

Animals if I remember correctly. 1977

[@DaedalusYoung]

No, that's Battersea on Animals.

[@cliffwoodbury5319]

They hsould clean the stacks out and rebuild the plant as a comunity by reusing all the structures!!!

[@johnburns4017]

Power station to be demolished.

[@josephinemitchell9504]

When the towers go so will peoples memories of the place.