Trent & Mersey Boating

Picturing the Past: NarrowBoat, Spring 2021

We explore details of four pictures from the Jack Parkinson Collection showing traffic near Rode Heath in 1964

The first two of these four images show the distinctive steel lock at Thurlwood Upper Locks No 53, with the British Waterways pair Effingham and butty Birdswood negotiating both locks. This location was both industrial and residential, with Bibbey Street running along the off-side canal bank in front of the houses. The sheds in the background of the above image are Rode Heath Mill Road Haulage Depot against Sandbach Road. This location had been susceptible to subsidence for many years due to salt production, which commenced in 1779. The mines later flooded so brine pumping started, lasting until 1927 when it ceased due to severe subsidence. In 1950 this subsidence reached the lock, damaging it along with the towpath. Both the locks were rebuilt at different times but the one on the towpath side suffered subsidence again. The solution was to rebuild it as a self-supporting steel-box structure that could be jacked up, should further subsidence occur. The lock was 106ft long, 18ft wide…