Tuel Lane Lock and Tunnel, Sowerby Bridge

Tuel Lane Lock and Tunnel are situated near the start of the Rochdale Canal at Sowerby Bridge, Near Halifax, West Yorkshire. Opened in May 1996, the lock replaced locks 3 and 4 and is the deepest lock in the United Kingdom at a fall of 19feet 8inches.

The canal originally ran under a canal bridge which can still be seen just inside the mouth of Tuel Lane Tunnel and carried on in the open to Lock 3 alongside Christ Church and the pub at where the modern day Tuel Lane Road and car park entrance meet, lock 4 being sighted between the current lock and Bridge 1a at Tower Hill. These were lost sometime in the 1940's -50's when Tuel Lane was diverted and widened to it's current location, the locks and canal also been infilled to create the car park that still occupies much of the modern day site. The formation of the Rochdale Canal Society in 1974 led to the canal moving up agendas and a report in 1991 in to the benefits of the canal being restored led to a eventual grant of £2.5 million from derelict land grants towards the cost of reopening the lock and tunnel. I previously posted about the lock and tunnel in a post dated 19 November 2017, this post includes a number of picture of the lock, canal and tunnel before closure and prior to re-opening, they are not my pictures and where possible they are credited to the copyright holder, have a look at that blog post to see them and learn a little more about the canal.

These pictures were taken on the Rochdale Canal by me on section between Bridge 1a Tower Hill to Lock 2, passing the tunnel and lock. They were taken in June 2014 using a Polaroid is2132 bridge camera. They can be seen below and on Clickasnap where they are un-watermarked and full resolution.

Rochdale Canal towards Tuel Lane Lock and Tunnel, pictured from
under Bridge 1a Tower Hill.

The Rochdale Canal close to where Lock 4 was
originally sighted.

Tuel Lane Lock

Rochdale Canal away from Tuel Lane Lock towards Bridge 1a
Tower Hill. Lock 4 was sighted somewhere along this stretch.

Tuel Lane Lock, the lock keepers office is sighted to the right
of the picture.

Tuel Lane Tunnel looking down from the lock.

The lock gates give an idea of the depth of the lock.

Tuel Lane Tunnel from the other side, the original bridge that 
carried Wharf Street is just inside the tunnel mouth and the 
same shape and style as it's modern entrance.

Lock 2 towards Tuel Lane Tunnel entrance.

Clicking any image should open a link in another window to the un-watermarked, higher resolution version on Clickasnap.

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All the pictures remain the copyright of Colin Green.