Overtown Miscellany - Barnsley Canal, Lower Town, Walton

Barnsley Canal Lower Town Stretch This part of the canal runs past Manor Estate, Lower Town, the allotments and Walton Locks (modern housing).

Part of the route is farm land, other parts have now been built upon. Originally, there were 7 locks on this length of the canal, there are remants of Lock 7 just north of Lower Town Bridge.

Roughly in the centre of this stretch, Lower Town Bridge (or School Lane or Low Town*) is around 3.5 km from the River Calder.

(* Also known by some as 'Fish and Chip Bridge', although the chip shop has now gone.)

Click on the pictures below to enlarge.

Lower Town Bridge. All overgrown, with traces of the canal largely disappeared. The last vestige of the canal in water is by Walton Hall Bridge, further south. Photographed 24 Dec 2009. © John S. Sargent.	Low Town Bridge: viewed from School Lane looking eastwards. The track continues on past the old chip shop, to the allotments, past farmland and on to the playing field. A footpath branches off to go past the Walton Social Club to Elmwood Estate and Shay Lane at Soap House Yard. The notice stuck to the telegraph pole relates to the proposal to demolish the nearby abandoned cottage, Bridge House. The house, though somewhat neglected for many years, is still there. Photographed May 2000 © John S. Sargent.
View towards School Lane in Low Town, showing the sadly neglected shell of Bridge House. Photographed June 2000. © John S. Sargent.	The lower lock-keeper's cottage photographed in January 2001. © John S. Sargent.
Similar view to the picture above. The bridge seems to be going the same way as the canal, i.e. it is vanishing. Photographed 9th May 2004. © John S. Sargent.	View of the locks towards Soap House Bridge (Walton Locks). Date uncertain, possibly early 20th century. Now, allotments are on the left of the canal route and houses and gardens now occupy the canal route and the area on the right. (This scene is used as the front cover of Peter Wright's "A History of Walton".)
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This area is covered by
Ordnance Survey Explorer Map, Sheet 278.

Celebrate England on St. George's Day, 23rd April.

Latest update or review: Thursday, 26 August, 2010