Around Preston

 I had a look at the real south end of the Lancaster Canal, where it originally ended when it was built. The canal was built to transport coal north from the Wigan coalfields, so it starts there, at a place now called Top Lock, a couple of miles northeast of Wigan town centre. Within a few years of the Lancaster Canal being built, the Leeds Liverpool Canal (LLC) connected to it, and after a while that section was leased and later purchased by the Leeds Liverpool, and so today it is known by that name, but it was originally part of the Lancaster Canal. History The engineer of the Lancaster Canal clearly disliked locks, which is very reasonably, given they require maintenance and water, plus they are a bottleneck. As far as I can see there were none on the southern section, and I do not think there were any on the northern section either as originally built (the Glasson dock branch has several). I wonder if the southern section is at the same height as the northern section, to ensure no