Burnley Embankment

Regarded as one of the “Seven Wonders of British Waterways”, the Burnley Embankment, locally known as “The Straight Mile”, is an impressive earth embankment that carries The Leeds and Liverpool Canal some sixty feet above the town of Burnley.

The Leeds and Liverpool Canal, that began construction in 1770, was originally designed to bypass Burnley in favor of the coal-and-lime-rich regions lying to the south. Burnley would have been connected to the canal by a branch heading up the valley. Construction of the canal began on both ends, and by 1780, the sections from Leeds to Gargrave and from Liverpool to Parbold and Wigan were completed, but then money ran out. By the time the canal company raised enough money to restart construction, the towns of Burnley and Blackburn had become far too important as industrial centers to ignore. Consequently, the route of the canal was redrawn to go through Burnley.

Burnley Embankment

Photo: SmoilsD/Flickr

Instead of taking the canal along the contours of the Calder valley and building a set of locks, engineer Robert Whitworth designed a sixty feet tall and 1.2 km long embankment— the largest in Britain— that took the canal straight through the town. Much of the earth needed to build the embankment came from the digging of the nearby 500-meter long Gannow Tunnel and the Whittlefield cutting needed to allow the canal to pass through the hills. About halfway along the embankment, the canal crosses Yorkshire Street over an aqueduct called the “Culvert”.

Burnley Embankment

The “Culvert” Aqueduct. Photo: Robert Wade/Flickr

The arrival of the canal caused significant growth and development in Burnley, stimulating the local textile and coal industry, and establishing Burnley as an important inland port. By the turn of the 20th century, there were twelve mills operating alongside the embankment, using water of the canal to power the mill engines, along with many foundries and ironworks that supplied the cotton mills and coal mines with machinery and cast and wrought iron for construction. In addition, a number of dockyards, wharves and coal staithes sprang up along its length. The canal also made possible the transportation of goods in bulk, bringing a huge boost to the area's economy. The town became renowned for its mill-engines, and the Burnley Loom was recognized as one of the best in the world.

The canal and the embankment is now maintained by the Canal & River Trust. From the top of the embankment, one can have an excellent view over Burnley’s roof tops to the moorlands surrounding the town.

Burnley Embankment