Taster Walk 1 - Audley SCC Leeds to Liverpool Canal.

[1] Go up the steps, turn left and go round the back of the centre. Go through 2 black bollards and past a play area. Continue along the path which gets narrower at (and wetter in wet weather!) At the end of the path cross road to footpath and turn left down Audley Lane. To avoid taking the wet/muddy path take the well surfaced path going off to the right after the play area. There is no footpath on this side of the road so you will have to cross the road towards the houses and use the path there turning left (and crossing again) down Audley Lane.

[2] At the end of Audley Lane use the Pedestrian lights (outside the tile centre) to cross over the busy Audley St/Higher Eanam (you have 5 lights to negotiate, but safer than the next set of traffic lights that have no pedestrian lights). Once across the road turn right and then first left down Eden St (at Barclays Banks), continue down to the bridge over the canal (careful here as the pedestrian path is non-existent, you will have to walk on the cycle path!)

[3] Keep to the right hand side going over the bridge and you will be able to join the canal towpath from the steps on the right hand side just after the signpost. (See picture!) When you get down the steps (careful as these might be slippy), turn right and go under the road bridge 103B and along the canal path. [Note the marks in the bridge arch made by ropes as the barges were pulled along by horses]   Eventually will get to Eanam Wharf [Look out for the iron pillar once part of crane and also the distance plate] and pass the boats the restaurant, lovely smells and reggae music! - watch out for goose poo and trip hazards here! Continue on until you reach a footbridge 103AA.

[4] Cross over the canal. Follow the path up along side Prospect House as it follows a green fence. Eventually you will get to an old metal gate to a car park and the path carries on uphill but now cobbled, [Most of the streets of Blackburn were cobbled to give horses a grip] again be careful!

[5] At the top of the slope cross the busy road carefully (Maybe at the speed cameras!) Turn left taking the footpath opposite where you cross the road. Continue and turn right onto Chester St. Follow the path (Look out for vehicles obstructing the pavement) and use the Zebra Crossing to get back to the Centre.

Leeds and Liverpool Canal reached Blackburn in 1822.

(A) At 127 miles the Leeds Liverpool is the longest canal in the country, begun in 1770, war and local politics delayed its construction and it wasn’t completed until 1816. With access to the port of Liverpool and the coalfields of East Lancashire and West Yorkshire towns like Blackburn mushroomed with factories and warehouses lining its route, some of which, though long derelict, are still visible today. Look at Bridge 103A notice the rope marks on the bridge, this were caused buy horses pulling barges along!

Cotton Mills were built directly alongside the canal so that goods could be unloaded directly into the mill and also finished product could be loaded into barges for transport to customers..

(B) Look for the old police station with the rusted bars of the cells still fixed in the wall just above water level. Here petty criminals would be held prior to being loaded onto barges and taken to Liverpool for transportation to the penal colonies. Next to the police station are the remains of the bank: its money chute, now home to a family of pigeons.

(C) Higher Eanam Windmill Built in 1822 by Samuel Derbyshire of Audley Hall and the appropriately named John Miller, it stood on the canal bank just a little further on than the Navigation Bridge, which is the bridge that still carries the traffic over the canal to this day.

Samuel and John had bought the land from the canal company for £160, no doubt a small fortune in 1822. 

The mill operated the windmill until 1882. It was then converted to other uses and stood without its sails for a few years, before finally the huge round tower itself was taken down in the late 1880's.

The canal itself was still relatively new, having only opened through Blackburn in 1816 and although it's hard to believe today, nearby Copy Nook was back then regarded as being on the outskirts of the town.