Anderton Boat Lift...

We were out and about enjoying the sun today. We had a wander along the banks of the Trent and Mersey Canal at Anderton near Northwich. It used to be one of the great arteries of industrial, Victorian England but gradually fell into decline. TheTrent and Mersey, along with much of the canal system, has been saved from oblivion by the tourist industry. People love to sail the old canals and the old canal barges make perfect floating homes while you do it.

At Anderton, the Victorian canal engineers had a problem of how to link the Trent and Mersey to the River Weaver. What they came up with was the Anderton Boat Lift, a tour de force of Victorian engineering that lifts the boats up and down between the two waterways. It was opened in 1875 but closed in 1983 due to corrosion. In 2001 it was restored and was back in use by 2002.