Local History Walks 2

Pincock

Walton Summit

Walton Summit

This walk, which is divided into three sections, explores the line of the long closed Walton Summit branch of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. This branch was originally part of the Lancaster Canal which ran from Aspull Top Lock to Kendal with a tramway, about five miles long, linking Walton Summit with the canal basin in Preston. The route of the tramway can be traced southwards from Avenham Colonnade, in Preston, across the Ribble and along an embankment towards Bamber Bridge.

Some of the paths and fields along the first and third sections of the route can be very wet and muddy so suitable footwear should be worn. A torch would be useful for the motorway subway tunnels, especially on a dull day.

I think the best place to start is at the southern end where the Walton Summit branch leaves the Leeds & Liverpool Canal at the bottom of the Johnson's Hillock flight.

Section One: about 3 miles - canal towpath, rough fields and country lanes.

Access: By car: From the A6 just north of Chorley turn off at the Hartwood Park roundabout, or from the M61 leave at junction 8, onto the A674 towards Wheelton. After about a mile turn left onto the B6229, Moss Lane and second right, just before the canal bridge, onto Dark Lane where you can park.
By bus: Take service 123 or 124 from Chorley to Moss Lane.

A path down to the Leeds & Liverpool Canal towpath is on the right just over the bridge. At the towpath turn left (north) along the towpath to the junction with the Walton Summit arm at the bottom of Johnson's Hillock Locks. This flight of seven locks was completed in 1816 to connect the Leeds & Liverpool Canal to the Lancaster Canal at Whittle Springs basin.

Whittle Springs was a popular spa in the 1840s with many visitors arriving on canal boats. There was a hotel, now the Howard Arms, pleasure gardens and baths. The spring water was used by the Whittle Springs Brewery which despatched barrels of its product from a wharf at Whittle Springs basin.

Bear left, under the footbridge onto the Walton Summit arm which is in water as far as Town Lane. Here there is no trace of the canal bridge and the road cuts the canal. Turn right along Town Lane where the only sign of the canal continuing is a line of trees heading north westwards from the left hand side of the road.

Continue along Town Lane looking for the footpath sign pointing down a track to the left between rows of cottages. Follow the track and the canal embankment appears from behind the cottages on your left. Look for the stile on the left, go over it, cross the field onto the embankment and follow it towards the motorway. At the motorway fence turn right and follow it down a steep and muddy path to the side of a stream where there is a stile leading to the subway beneath the the motorway.

The Aqueduct
Approaching the far end of the subway a view of 'Rennie's Aqueduct' opens up and a stile leads into the tunnel which has a path through it alongside the stream. Carry on through to the other side, turn left, up the slope and over a stile then left again onto the path which goes across the top of the tunnel portal. You can scramble up the embankment to the side of the line which is now part of a field between the motorway and Tunnel End.

After coming down again continue along the path which soon becomes a track between Hillfoot Cottage and Hillfoot Farm. Lean on the gate in the right hand wall for a well-earned rest and to look down on the canal which is now part of the landscaped garden of a house. A little further up the track you can glimpse the eastern tunnel portal - Tunnel End. From where the track crosses this short tunnel you can see either way along the line, eastwards through the garden and westwards along the cutting between the tunnels.

You are now at Hill Top Lane, turn right and walk to the right angle corner of Hill Top Lane from where you can see the reed-studded line crossing a field towards the embankment and aqueduct where you were earlier. At the footpath sign just up the hill from the corner you can either go back to the start now or pick-up the second part of the route (marked with *) and then go back when you return here.

To get back to the start take the track to the farm, go round the left-hand side of the farmhouse and through the double gates to get to the subway under the motorway. Once through it, look for the stile marked with a footpath sign on your left. Follow the motorway boundary fence up the field (which can be very wet having been used as a soil dump during the building of the motorway and not properly reinstated afterwards) then turn right at the top of the field towards Birchin Lane. Turn right down Birchin Lane into the valley and cross the bridge over the stream. The footpath to the right would take you along the bank of the stream back to the first subway so bear left and go up Lower Copthurst Lane to The Top Lock pub at the top of Johnson's Hillock locks from where you can walk down the lock flight.

Cross the footbridge at the bottom lock to a footpath which goes through to Dark Lane where the British Waterways yard and the The Howard are situated. Turn right to get back to the start point.

Section Two: just over 2 miles - canal towpath, hilly country lane, grassy landscaped areas.

Access: By car: The next place to head for is Whittle-le-Woods. Continue along Dark Lane and turn left, at the T-junction, into Town Lane. After about two miles turn right, at another T-junction, into Chorley Old Road. After about a mile look for the Duke of York on your right, just before the canal bridge which is between Mill Lane and Smith Street. You will be able to find somewhere nearby to park.
By bus: Take service 114 from Chorley to Whittle-le-Woods.

On the landscaped area by the canal bridge are some millstones.
A plaque reads:
'The Whittle Mill Stones'
'Millstones similar to those erected here were quarried out of the hills of Whittle-le-Woods for many centuries.
After the Lancaster Canal was opened and a link made with the Leeds - Liverpool Canal at Johnson's Hillock in 1816 millstones were despatched world-wide from a wharf close by. The millstone mounted vertically was found when a cutting was made in the disused canal basin.
The millstones were erected on behalf of Whittle Parish Council by Chorley Community Programme July 1985.'

The canal basin had a special stone wharf, near the Duke of York, with a crane to load the millstones onto the boats, wharves with coal yards, weighing machines and a smithy but it was filled in when the canal fell into disuse.

Walk down the grassy slope and under the bridge where there is a short length of about fifty yards of the canal, from the bridge eastwards towards the tunnels, which has been cleared and re-watered. After this the canal becomes overgrown to the portal of the western tunnel. The canal bed in the tunnel is reasonably dry and although the narrow, wooden 'man hauling' towpath has gone it is possible to scramble through alongside the southern wall where some of the puddle has been heaped up and is dry, though uneven. Don't be tempted by the flatter areas as in some places the puddle is wet, slippery and very sticky. The tunnel is short so you shouldn't need a torch. The cutting beyond the tunnel is very overgrown and rubbish is piled up outside the tunnel portal although there is water in the canal beyond that. Time to re-trace your steps.

Along the Line of the Tunnels
Back at the towpath turn left up the steps. Turn left into Hill Top Lane which takes you over the tunnel portal and then eastwards along the line of the canal. Look down to the right to see into the cutting which replaced the collapsed part of the tunnel. Carry on until you come to an access road which goes off to the right over the other tunnel and from which you can look down each way along the line, eastwards through the garden and westwards along the cutting between the tunnels.

Continue along the lane from which you can look down to a section of the canal which is in the garden of a house. Soon you come to a right angle bend to the left. From here you can see the line going on towards the motorway. Carry on up Hill Top Lane past the footpath sign (*) and the bridge over the motorway, where it becomes Birchin Lane, and then down the hill. Near the bottom of Birchin Lane, just past Swallow Court, take the footpath to the right which turns to follow the line of the canal northwards between new housing estates. (The limestone chipping path leads to the Dog Inn car park on Chorley Old Road.)

The Lime Kiln
Follow the path along the line, crossing over an estate road and stile. Down to the right by a stream is a stone-built lime kiln, a characteristic canal feature, which used limestone from Carnforth and coal from Wigan to make lime for local use. Back on the path go over another stile and bear left onto a grassed area, parallel to the road, which follows the line towards Sandy Lane. You can get as far as Osborne Drive where the line is under the back gardens of new houses. Retrace your steps and go via the limestone path, or follow Chorley Old Road, to the Dog Inn.

Carry on past the Dog Inn to the site of a bridge marked by the LCC No Tipping sign. After looking at the line of the canal curving off northwards between the houses cross the road where you can go through a gate and walk along the landscaped line of the filled-in canal where there were many coal yards with their weighing machines to the site of the wharf by the bridge from which you started.

Northwards from Whittle-le-Woods the line ran, parallel to Chorley Old Road, to Clayton Green where it turned north-west under Sandy Lane before looping around, after a mile or so, westwards to the tramway terminus at Walton Summit. To the west of the motorway all of this has now been lost under road, new housing and an industrial estate.

Section Three: about 2 miles - road, rough fields, farm tracks and country lane.

Access: By car: To investigate the remaining line to the east of the motorway continue along Chorley Old Road for one-and-a-half miles, turn right at the Lord Nelson into Sandy Lane, left at the mini roundabout into Westwood Road then right into Clayton Brook Road. After three-quarters of a mile there is a footpath under the motorway and you should be able to park nearby.
By bus: Take service 114 from Chorley to Westwood Road and walk up Clayton Brook Road.

The footpath sign does NOT point to the subway which is actually opposite the bus stop by Longacre and behind a tree with an unofficial memorial to a boy killed while crossing the motorway. There is no obvious path over the grass verge to the steps down to the subway and if you want to see where you will be going before you start, walk up the road to the pavement opposite Carr Barn Brow. You can see the line of the canal as a double row of trees curving through the fields on the other side of the motorway. The position of the canal can still be seen in the top of the embankment of the southbound slip road as a shallow flat-bottomed V. However, the profile is about 15ft higher than the actual canal bed and completely hides from view Summit Bridge, an accommodation bridge, which is still in place over the dry canal bed.

Retrace your steps and follow the footpath under the motorway. When you have got over the first stile look back over your left shoulder and across the corner of the field where you might make out the tiny yellow public footpath arrow fixed to the motorway boundary fence. There isn't an obvious way to it but follow the path over the next stile, immediately turn left, scramble through the fallen tree branches and across the field to the yellow sign. Turn right and walk alongside the fence to the top of the field and the canal.

Forlorn Bridge
To your right is Summit Bridge, a farmer's accomodation bridge, left high and dry. Its plan is unusual in that there are no steps leading down to the tow-path but the parapet curves round to canal level the pathway following its curve. Go past the bridge and follow the track which leads across the line to Chesham Farm where you take the left track around the farm buildings to reach Pippin Street opposite a white house. Turn right along Pippin Street for about half-a-mile before turning right down another farm track. It has two parallel concrete strips all the way down. Another accomodation bridge was (and may still be hidden in the bushes) just to the west of the buildings. Cross a small field to reach the line, which heads north-east from where it is cut by the motorway. Go over the stile and cross the field to the subway under the motorway and back to Clayton Brook Road.

To get back to the M61, M65 or the A6 continue along Clayton Brook Road, turn right into Tramway Road and follow the appropriate signs. As its name suggests this road originally followed the line of the 'temporary' tramway which joined the southern section of the Lancaster Canal at Walton Summit to the northern section at Preston but, following the construction of the M65, I don't know how much of it still does.

That's it!