As the Crow Flies — Stop 7
Mr Pickles On The Canal
Mr Pickles flew down to the canal to have a look at what was going on down there.
Illustration by children of Milton St John’s School
He’d been coming down since 1874 when the canal had started being built. He had watched as men sweated and heaved their pickaxes and dug out and moved the earth to create the channel. The canal had to climb 438 feet so it was a huge feat of engineering.
Mr Pickles had flown all along it from Ashton to Huddersfield. He had counted the 74 locks that allowed the narrow boats to go up and down and hitched a ride through the tunnel that went under the Pennines from Diggle to Marsden. It was 5,700 yards long and was the longest, highest deepest canal tunnel that had ever been built. Lots of people had had terrible accidents and many had died while building both the tunnel and the canal.
Despite many setbacks it had finally opened in 1811 to great celebrations. Now Mr Pickles sat with the barge boys and girls and they shared their lunch with him as they rested from their long journey over the hill. Their job was leading the barge horse over the Pennines as the barge was legged through the tunnel. They had to make sure they travelled faster than the leggers so they could open the gate at the other end of the tunnel and let the barge out. Mr. Pickles thought they really deserved their lunch but he was glad that they always spared a few crumbs for him.
Children lived with their parents on the canal boats and were expected to work on the boats, carrying out duties such as leading the horse and opening locks.
Because they were always travelling, children found it difficult to go to school regularly.
The Huddersfield Narrow Canal runs between Huddersfield and Ashton under Lyne and Stanedge tunnel, between Diggle and Marsden, at over three miles, is the longest canal tunnel in Britain.
The canal has 74 locks over its 20 mile route and the central section, at 645 feet above sea level, is the highest stretch of canal in Britain - so the canal really is “a cut above the rest”.