Bingley Five Rise Locks are a five-chamber staircase on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal at Bingley in West Yorkshire. Each chamber opens straight into the next, with six sets of gates in all, and together they lift the canal 59 ft 2 in (18 m). The Canal & River Trust describes them as the steepest staircase locks in Britain. They are broad locks, with chambers just over 14 ft wide. The staircase was built by John Longbottom with local masons and opened in 1774. It is Grade I listed and largely unaltered, and each chamber still has its own overflow channel alongside. Bingley Three Rise Locks are a short distance downstream and opened at the same time. The locks are run by the Canal & River Trust. Waterway: Leeds & Liverpool Canal Locks: 5-chamber staircase Rise: 59 ft 2 in (18 m) Opened: 1774 Heritage: Grade I listed (Historic England 1314303) Grid reference: SE 1075 3995 Sources: Historic England list entry 1314303; Canal & River Trust.
Foxton Locks carry the Leicester Line of the Grand Union Canal up the hillside at Foxton, about 3 miles west of Market Harborough in Leicestershire. There are ten narrow locks in two staircases of five, with a passing pound between them, and side ponds alongside. It is the longest staircase flight in Britain. The Market Harborough Arm leaves the main line at the bottom of the flight. The locks were built between 1810 and 1814 to the design of the engineer Benjamin Bevan. Beside them are the remains of the Foxton Inclined Plane, opened in 1900, which lifted boats 75 ft in two caissons hauled by a steam engine. It took about 12 minutes against roughly an hour and a quarter through the locks, but it closed in 1911 because traffic was too light, and it was dismantled in 1928. The locks are Grade II* listed, and the lock cottages at the top and bottom are Grade II listed. The inclined plane is a Scheduled Monument. Foxton Canal Museum, run by the Foxton Inclined Plane Trust, is in the plane’s old boiler house. The locks are run by the Canal & River Trust. Waterway: Grand Union Canal, Leicester Line Locks:
Anderton Boat Lift raises and lowers boats 50 ft (15.2 m) between the River Weaver and the Trent & Mersey Canal at Anderton, near Northwich in Cheshire. Boats float into one of two water-filled caissons, which carry them between the river and an aqueduct at canal level. It opened in 1875 and is described by Historic England as the world’s first commercially successful boat lift. Edwin Clark designed it, with Edward Leader Williams as chief engineer. It was converted to electric operation between 1906 and 1908 and closed in 1983. After restoration it reopened in 2002, working on hydraulics again. The lift, aqueduct, basins and the buried remains of the old transhipment works are a Scheduled Monument. It is one of only two working boat lifts in the UK, with the Falkirk Wheel. A visitor centre and Anderton Nature Park are beside it. The lift is run by the Canal & River Trust. Waterways: Trent & Mersey Canal and River Weaver Opened: 26 July 1875; reopened 2002 Rise: 50 ft (15.2 m) Heritage: Scheduled Monument (Historic England 1021152) Grid reference: SJ 6473 7523 Sources: Historic England list entry 1021152; Canal & River Trust.
Standedge Tunnel takes the Huddersfield Narrow Canal under the Pennines, from Tunnel End at Marsden in West Yorkshire to Diggle in Greater Manchester. It is more than 3 miles (about 5 km) long and is the longest, highest and deepest canal tunnel in Britain, with almost 200 m of rock above it at the deepest point. There is no towpath: working boats were legged through while the horses were led over the moor. The tunnel took from 1794 to 1811 to build, with Benjamin Outram as the first engineer. The last working boat went through in 1921, and the canal closed in 1944. After restoration the tunnel reopened to boats in 2001. Three railway tunnels run alongside it, and one of them is still in use. Boats need to book passage with the Canal & River Trust. You steer your own boat, with a Trust chaperone on board. Boats must be no more than 70 ft long, 6 ft 10 in wide, 6 ft 2 in high above the water and 3 ft 3 in deep. Petrol-engined and fibreglass boats are not allowed. The Standedge Tunnel visitor centre is in the old warehouse at Tunnel End. Waterway: Huddersfield Narrow Canal
Pontcysyllte Aqueduct carries the Llangollen Canal 38 m (about 125 ft) above the River Dee between Froncysyllte and Trevor, near Llangollen in Wrexham County Borough. At 307 m (1,007 ft) it is the longest aqueduct in Great Britain. Boats cross in a cast-iron trough supported on 19 spans and 18 hollow stone piers. The trough takes one boat at a time, and the towpath runs along one side only. It was built for the Ellesmere Canal between 1795 and 1805. William Jessop was the principal engineer and Thomas Telford the general agent, with ironwork by William Hazledine. It is one of the earliest iron canal aqueducts and one of the most influential. The aqueduct is Grade I listed and a Scheduled Monument. It is the centrepiece of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal World Heritage Site, inscribed in 2009, which covers 18 km of canal from Horseshoe Falls to Gledrid Bridge, including Chirk Aqueduct. Trevor Basin is at the northern end. The canal is managed by the Canal & River Trust (Glandŵr Cymru). Waterway: Llangollen Canal Opened: 26 November 1805 Length and height: 307 m long, 38 m above the river Heritage: Grade I listed (Cadw 1601); Scheduled Monument; World Heritage
