Epic 127 mile trans Pennine canal birthday party!

The historic short boat Kennet is crossing the Pennines this month on a 127 mile ‘water party’ to celebrate 200 years of the Leeds and Liverpool canal.

Short boat Kennet

Organised by the Leeds & Liverpool Canal Society which runs Kennet (seen above in Skipton) as an education boat, and supported by Canal & River Trust, the epic voyage will be a culmination of a year of festivities and celebrations in honour of the 200th anniversary of England’s longest canal. The ‘greatest long distance water party ever staged in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside’ helps the Bicentenary celebrations reach a high point this month as Kennet re-creates the inaugural ceremonial journey across the Pennines from Leeds to Liverpool. Brass bands, 12 mayors, flotillas of boats, peels of church bells, hundreds of school children and crowds of well-wishers are expected to greet the boat as it makes its stately progress through Yorkshire, Lancashire and Merseyside, past mills and moorland, through Bingley, Skipton, Burnley, Blackburn, Chorley, Wigan, Burscough and some of the country’s most spectacular scenery.

Flotillas “decorated with flags and streamers”, accompanied by “hearty cheering of immense assemblage of spectators” greeted the original ceremonial boat journey in October 1816. That trip lasted only five days but this month the Canal Society crew will take a more leisurely pace so more people can celebrate in daylight hours, leaving Leeds on Saturday 15th October and arriving in Liverpool nine days later on Sunday 23rd October.

Kennet trip organiser Harold Bond said: “Back in 1816, press reports state that the ceremonial first boat was greeted by peeling church bells, brass bands and cheering crowds, and canal barges were be-decked in flags and streamers. It would be fantastic if we could recreate that amazing atmosphere of celebration again. The response to our invitation to get involved has been brilliant so we have every chance of staging a celebration worthy of those entrepreneurial merchants and inventive engineers who were responsible for building this waterway two hundred years ago. Kennet will be decked out in bunting to symbolise the two great shire county roses. It would be wonderful to be greeted by a sea of red and white as our procession sails along.”

Chantelle Seaborn, local waterway manager with the Canal & River Trust, said: “This epic boat journey is a wonderful way to mark the 200th anniversary of one of the most significant waterways in Britain. The opening of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal played a key role in Britain’s Industrial Revolution and encouraged the development of the textile industries in Lancashire and West Yorkshire. Today there are fewer industries along its banks, but the canal still brings many benefits of leisure, tourism, nature and regeneration to the communities along its route. There is tremendous pride in our wonderful heritage and we are delighted so many towns, cities, schools and organisations have come forward to be part of this incredible long distance celebration.”

The original five day journey in 1816 represented a triumph of grit and determination for getting the job done. There were numerous debates about the exact route of the canal. Construction began in 1770 at either end and by 1777 the canal was open from Leeds to Gargrave and from Liverpool to Parbold. At this stage the money ran out and worked stopped until 1790. The route was then altered to take in the growing industrial towns of East Lancashire but it was not until 1816 that the last section between Wigan and Johnson’s Hillock, near Chorley, was finished, finally creating a trans-Pennine link between the two great cities. See our Canal Junction Leeds and Liverpool Canal Guide.

Thanks to CRT and L&L Canal Society for report and image.

All materials and images © Canal Junction Ltd. Dalton House, 35 Chester St, Wrexham LL13 8AH. No unauthorised reproduction.

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