River Weaver

The River Weaver in Nantwich

Template: Infobox River / Obsolete

The Weaver is a river in northern England that flows in a curve in the counterclockwise direction by the county of Cheshire. Its lower section was expanded navigable in the 18th century. The most famous building on the riverside, the Anderton Boat Lift of 1875, which connects it to the 15 meters higher running Trent and Mersey Canal.

Geography

The Weaver rises south of Peckforton Peckforton Hills on the eastern edge of the western Cheshire. From there it flows first to the county of Shropshire in a southeasterly direction. In Audlem he then turns to the north and flows through the plains of Cheshire.

The first major town on his way Nantwich. He then continues to flow north through Winsford to Northwich. From here it flows to the northwest direction. Previously, a tributary of the Mersey, it opens today at the Port of Runcorn in the upgraded for ocean-going vessels Manchester Ship Canal.

History

In Roman times rock salt was mined in the present county of Cheshire. By the end of the 17th century to the therefore designated as Cities of Salt cities Northwich, Middlewich, Nantwich and Winsford had developed numerous salt mines. In order to be able to remove the salt better, granted the British Parliament in 1721 for permission to expand the River Weaver navigable. Then, the 34 -kilometer section of the mouth to Winsford Bridge by a private company operating under the name Weaver was deepened navigation and partially channeled.

Northwich was the most important port city on this navigable section. Immediately north of it presented in 1875 the Anderton boat lift connecting to the Trent and Mersey Canal and thus to the rest of the British canal system here.

In Sutton Weaver, a flow loop was bypassed by a channel section, the channel met at Frodsham via a lock back on the river. Between 1807 and 1810, however, a short channel called Weston Canal was built to bypass the result of tidal currents difficult and dangerous entrance to the Weaver mouth and produce a navigable link to the thriving port of Runcorn. Thus, the lock Frodsham was superfluous and therefore shut down.

Economy

Importance as a transport route

In the 18th and 19th centuries, large quantities of salt and other goods were transported on the river. But unlike the majority of the British canal system, the significance of decreased dramatically for freight traffic with the advent of railways in the 19th century, the Weaver was preserved as a transport route to the 20th century. 1964, the lower section to Anderton was expanded even for long 57 meter ships with a capacity of up to 600 tons.

Tourism

Just like the British canal system and the navigable section of the Weaver in the 1970s was increasingly used by the recreational boating. After the closure of the Anderton boat lift in 1983, he was, however, only accessible via the Manchester Ship Canal. As provided in this strict requirements on the seaworthiness of the boat and crew, this led to a dramatic decline in recreational boating on the Weaver. In addition, there are on the lower Weaver hardly tourist attractions, and the Weston Canal runs along almost exclusively of industrial plants.

Since the reopening of the elevator Anderton 2002, however, the marine leisure steadily, which is why there are now also plans to open the channel section after Frodsham again and develop the former shipyard facilities there touristy.