Breach closes 44 miles of Leeds & Liverpool Canal

STILL adding to the woes of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal a major breach at Rishton between bridges 109 and 110 has closed the four flights from Barrowford to Wigan—a total of 44 miles, Keith Gudgin reports.

Flights closed

It was in the early hours of today, Monday, that the bank breached with water pouring out of the canal and Canal & River Trust people were immediately on site to attempt to stem the breach, at the same time closing all the flights, including Barrowford, Blackburn, Johnson's Hill and Wigan, the trust maintains, to conserve water.

Such is the scale of the breach that workers were on site throughout the night in an attempt to install dams to restrict the heavy flow of water from the navigation.

From bed of canal

It is stated that the breach is from the bed of the canal, and it will not be until the section is completely drained that it can be investigated and the scale of the work required for its repair determined.

In the meantime the trust have advised against unnecessary boat travel through this area until repairs have been completed.