Galloway's
Society for the Blind		 Bringing the Leeds & Liverpool Canal Back to Life - A Heritage Lottery Project
About the Project
Johnson's Hillock

Salterforth to
Greenberfield

Salterforth to Greenberfield - Walk Guide - Section 01

A panel near the car park gives an overview of the walk. Some of the features at Greenberfield, such as Gill Rock, are below the top lock and can be omitted to shorten the walk.

Greenberfield Locks opened in 1794. At that time they consisted of a two-rise lock and a single lock. Riser locks, where the upper gate of one lock is the lower gate of the next lock, are found on the Yorkshire section of the canal, the earliest section to be built. They waste water when boats pass in alternate directions, therefore when the canal was later built through Lancashire, only single locks were used. Then, in 1820 to save water, the two-rise and single lock at Greenberfield were replaced by a new flight of three single locks constructed alongside the old locks. The original bridge below the former two-rise lock and the lock keeper’s cottage next to the old disused single lock still survive, and part of the old line still has some water in it at the bottom of the locks.

Have a look at the paddle gear, called clows (cloughs) on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, which controls the water entering and leaving the locks. The simple gearing on the gate paddles is a recent development, but the ground paddles, fitted to the lock sides above the upper gates, is traditional Leeds & Liverpool Canal. There are box clows in which the sluice is wound up and down by a screw, while the bottom lock has an earlier type. Also notice the iron hooks at the top of the locks to which boats were tied whilst waiting for the lock to be filled. A tactile cast aluminium panel here explains how a lock works.

Start walking down the locks to the second lock. The canal was originally built to carry limestone, and Gill Rock quarry, one of several to supply the canal near Barnoldswick, was beyond the road just above this lock. There was a tramroad from the quarry which passed under the road to a wharf next to bridge no 157. The quarry closed in the late-nineteenth century and it was filled in when the new Skipton Road, avoiding the hump-backed bridges over the canal here, was built in the 1930s. Limestone was also the major cargo suggested for the proposed Settle Canal. This would have joined the Leeds & Liverpool Canal just above the locks and then made its way up the Ribble Valley to Settle. Only one lock was needed, close to Settle, the canal following the 150 metre contour, the same height os the Leeds & Liverpool Canal’s summit level.

Continue downwards towards the bottom lock where the original line of the canal is on your left-hand side. At the lock, have a look at the clow above the lock gates. A horizontal wooden shaft has to be raised whist turning through ninety degrees, and this allows a vertical wooden plank underneath to slide sideways and open up the pipe through which water enters the lock. If you have the knack, they are easy to use, but today they are found hard to operate by many boaters. Now return up the locks. Just below the top lock, alongside the towpath, is the concrete chamber which measures the flow of water passing into the Yorkshire section of the canal.

The water supply for the canal came originally from reservoirs at Foulridge. Over the years additional reservoirs were provided, the last being at Winterburn, in the valley behind Gargrave, and a pipeline linked the reservoir with Greenberfield. Start walking along the towpath, and the small brick building close to the towpath, just beyond the lock keeper’s house, is the water outlet into the canal, inscribed with its opening date, 17 August 1893.

If you are starting the walk, continue along the towpath, under bridge no 156, past the overflow weir which stops the canal getting too full, and around the right-hand bend. Those finishing their walk here can get a cup of tea on summer afternoons at the Lock Stop Cafe when it is open.