Marston (Trent & Mersey Canal) to Anderton (River Weaver)

We are moving on today to Anderton and hopefully going down the lift onto the River Weaver.

We set off along the canal and stopped at the services to fill up with water, get rid of rubbish, etc., and then we went on around the corner and moored in the visitor moorings before the lift.

Moored at Anderton before going down lift

And in we go!

We walked down to the office to see what time we could go down the lift and she said we could either go in five minutes or have the next slot which was 12.10pm so we said we would go then.

Sharing the lift

View from the top

We walked back to the boat and half an hour before our slot, we moved up the canal onto the moorings just outside the lift.  The CRT chap came along and told us what would be happening.  There was another boat going down with us and we would be going in first.

Down we go

Passing the other tank

The Anderton Lift is an amazing and enormous piece of machine built in 1875 by Leader Williams (later engineer of the Manchester Ship Canal) to connect the Trent & Mersey canal to the River Weaver 50ft below.  As built, the lift consisted of two water-filled tanks counterbalancing each other in a vertical slide, resting on massive hydraulic rams.  It worked on the very straightforward principle that making the ascending tank slightly lighter -  by pumping a little water out – would assist the hydraulic rams (which were operated by a steam engine and pump) in moving both tanks, with boats in them, up or down their respective slide.

Nearly Down

And out we go

Industrial plant up ahead

In 1908, the lift had to have major repairs, so it was modernised at the same time.  The troublesome hydraulic rams were done away with; from then on each tank which contained 250 tons of water had its own counterweights and was independent of the other tank.  Electricity replaced steam as the motive power. 

Anderton Lift

It is an amazing structure and we were excited to be going on it again.  You go into the first bit and then they raise the gate to the tank and you both go in together, they lower the gate and then down you go.  It takes about 9 minutes to go down. The views are amazing from the top and as you descend.

Lovely view of Anderton Lift from River

We got to the bottom and waited for the gate to be lifted and then out we went onto the River Weaver.  We moored in the new visitor moorings just up from the lift, these weren’t here when we last came three years ago.  The River Weaver is lovely and we are really looking forward to spending some days here exploring again.

We are staying here tonight and then tomorrow we will chug down to Northwich and stop off there for some shopping and then make our way through two locks to Vale Royal Moorings where we are going to meet our friends Pat, Patrick and Poochie who are also down here on the River Weaver, we haven’t seen them for a couple of years so it will be lovely to meet up again.

Moored by the Anderton Lift