History of the Trail
| Back in time......... a brief history of the Trans Pennine Trail's route through Warrington.
The Canals Opened in 1757 the Sankey Canal was Britain's first true canal. It ran from St. Helens through Warrington to Widnes and was originally built to carry coal from the mines in the St. Helens area to the markets of Liverpool and Cheshire. The advent of the railways triggered the long decline of the canal but it was not officially closed until 1963. The Runcorn and Latchford Canal was opened in 1804 to avoid the awkward tidal section of the River Mersey between Warrington and Runcorn. Most of the canal became disused when the Manchester Ship Canal opened but a one mile section from Stockton Heath to Latchford remained in use until the 1960's.
Photo - The "Arklow Moon" passes alongside the Trans Pennine Trail as it sails up the Manchester Ship Canal.
The railway opened in 1853 and passenger services operated for just over 100 years. By the early 1960's very few people used the line and in 1962 it was closed to passenger traffic. Goods trains operated until the early 1980's, mainly taking coal to Fiddlers Ferry Power Station. For more information on Lymm Station, see the information panel on the Lymm Heritage Trail page.
There were four stations along the section of the route which now forms part of the TPT. The others were Thelwall (Halfacre Lane), Lymm (Statham Ave - now the site of the Ranger Centre) Heatley (Mill Lane-shown) and Dunham (Station Rd). |
The Manchester Ship Canal's opening in 1895 was preceded by several years of fierce opposition from the railways and the Port of Liverpool. Traffic on the canal thrived until the 1970's but has been in decline since. Despite this the occasional tanker can sometimes be seen passing alongside the Trans Pennine Trail.
Heatley Station
