North Portal Of St. Nicholas Tunnel On Liverpool Canal Link - Liverpool, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 24.448 W 002° 59.875
30U E 500138 N 5917599
The Liverpool Canal Link extends the Leeds and Liverpool Canal by way of Liverpool's Central Docks and Pier Head to the South Docks. It was opened in 2009 and has three tunnels across the Pier Head including this one.
Waymark Code: WMY4K8
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/20/2018
Views: 2
The Canal History
The Leeds Liverpool Canal which at 127 miles long is the longest canal in Northern England. It was built between Leeds and Liverpool to carry bulk cargoes such as coal, stone and limestone between 1770 and 1816.
In 1846 the docks of Liverpool were extended and Albert Dock was built with warehouses next to the wharves to allow easy transshipment between boats and warehouses.
The Stanley Dock Branch of the Leeds Liverpool Canal was built at the same time to give the canal boats access to this facility. This enabled cargoes to be quickly transferred between the canal boats and ocean going vessels. However with the introduction of larger steam driven ships, the use of Albert Dock declined and the Stanley Dock Branch fell into disuse and part of the dock area infilled.
These days commercial traffic on the canal has stopped, but it is popular with leisure boaters.
Albert Dock itself has been redeveloped and has a variety of shops, apartments and restaurants and is a popular tourist destination.
As part of the redevelopment it was decided to re-open a canal link from the Leeds Liverpool Canal to the docks area.
As well as re-opening the original Stanley Lock Branch of the canal, a new part of the canal was constructed to provide a connection with Albert Dock.
The new link has 2 locks and 3 canal tunnels.
The North Portal of the 1st Tunnel
This end of the tunnel is next to the new top lock of the link. The lock was built in a concrete chamber at the side of Princes Dock and is connected to this tunnel portal with a narrow concrete channel. The tunnel passes under St. Nicholas Place and connects Prices Dock with the Pier Head.
The tunnels were made by the cut and cover method, with pre-cast concrete sections inserted into the cut sections of the canal.
An information board at this portal has the following information
Liverpool Link Tunnels
Number of tunnels: 3
Total length: 375m / 1230ft
Method of working: One Way Traffic
Maximum craft size:
4.29m / 14' 3" Beam
2.40m / 8' Air draft
Approximate travel time through the tunnel 10 mins
You are strongly advised to wear a buoyancy aid / life
jacket when travelling through the tunnels
Canoes and unpowered craft prohibited
CRT emergency contact:
T 0800 4799947
This Pennine Waterways
web site has many photographs and descriptions of the canal link and tunnels whilst under construction.
This Pennine Waterways
web site has many photographs taken on the day the new canal link and tunnels opened.