Summary
A bridge over the Lancaster Canal at Catterall built in 1797 to a design by the engineer John Rennie.
Reasons for Designation
Bridge 53 on the Lancaster Canal, built in 1797 by John Rennie, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
History
Initially envisaged as a route from the Bridgewater Canal at Worsley through to Kendal, Cumbria, for the transportation of coal north from the Lancashire coalfields and limestone south from Cumbria, part of the route of what became known as the Lancaster Canal was surveyed by James Brindley in 1772. Robert Whitworth completed the survey the same year but it was not until 1791/2 when John Rennie (1761-1821) was appointed engineer that work began on a revised route in two sections north and south of the River Ribble at Preston. By 1797 a 42.4 mile length from Preston north to Tewitfield was opened and Bridge No.53, designed by Rennie, is located on this initial length of the canal. It is identified as Catterall Bridge on the 1:2,500 Ordnance Survey Epoch 1 Map (1843-1893) and as Basin Bridge on the 1:10,560 Epoch 1 map (1843-1893). The southern length of the canal was linked to the northern end by a tramway approximately five miles long that ran across the Ribble valley from Preston to Walton Summit. The tramway was built by John Rennie & William Cartwright and opened in 1803. It remained in use until the 1860s. In 1813 work began on the canal north from Tewitfield to Kendal and this opened in 1819. Construction then began on a 2.5 mile Glasson Dock link connecting the canal with the sea at Glasson Dock on the Lune estuary which opened in 1826.
Details
A bridge over the Lancaster Canal built at the time of the canal's opening in 1797 by the engineer John Rennie and constructed of rock-faced sandstone.
End of official list entry
