Nearly everybody from Blackburn, especially Rovers fans, will know where Ewood Aqueduct is located. This 200 year old Grade 2 listed building carries the Leeds Liverpool Canal over both the River Darwen and appropriately named Aqueduct Road.
But what many Blackburners might not realise is the Leeds Liverpool Canal also flows over an aqueduct on the east side of town to traverse Blackburn’s other river – the Blakewater. It’s quite understandable why this structure is not very well known. This aqueduct looks like an ordinary wall. You have to look over the top of it to see why it is an aqueduct.
There can also be confusion trying to find its exact location on a map. It is next to the oldest of Blackburn’s three Whitebirk bridges, this one is now closed to traffic and only used as a footpath. It is Bridge Number 104B, not to be confused with Bridges 104, 104A, 104AA and 104C in this neck of the woods along the cut.
Just to add even more confusion, nobody seems sure what name to give the brook which flows underneath this aqueduct and what it is called officially round here. It certainly is known as the River Blakewater as it flows through most of Blackburn and under its town centre. But from its source near Guide it is known as Knuzden Brook. When it reaches Intack it becomes known as Abbott Clough. Though maps have it still called Knuzden Brook when it reaches Whitebirk. Eventually it becomes the River Blakewater, flowing down to Witton Park, for its confluence with the River Darwen.
From where our multi named trickle starts, to somewhere near Greenbank Police Station, it also serves as an official boundary between Blackburn and Hyndburn. It’s looking like our smaller populated neighbour has had a good land grab here. Spending £1 buying Whitebirk Power Station’s old site turned out be money well spent by Hyndburn Council.
As for the Whitebirk Aqueduct, it continues a Blackburn tradition of blanking out views of this little river which gave our town its name. But you can see the river when looking down from this canal vantage point. Access to the riverbank from Bridge 104B is difficult due to it being overgrown and across a fly-tipped rubbish strewn terrain.
Whitebirk Aqueduct is not as large or spectacular as its fellow structure at Ewood. But it has the distinction of being older and in use before Blackburn’s better known aqueduct. This was because the Leeds Liverpool Canal was finally completed to the west of Blackburn, years after reaching Eanam Wharf. So we can thank the Romans – and the navvies – for giving us not just one, but two aqueducts, carrying Britain’s longest canal through Blackburn.
