View of Carr Lane looking towards Huddersfield before work started. The work involves reconstruction of 600 metres of canal along its original line, restoration of lock 22E beside the Carr Lane car park and construction of a new lock 21E upstream of Platt Lane. New bridges are to be built at Platt Lane, Britannia Road and for the private road off Old Bank. A replacement car park is to be constructed on the disused New Street Council Depot. Boaters will be able to moor above or below lock 22E and turn in a new winding hole to be built between locks 22E and 21E. The end result will create a unique village waterfront.

View of Carr Lane car park before work started looking upstream along the canal line.

One of the first tasks was to provide a replacement car park for the one in Carr Lane. Here the new car park in New Street is nearing completion.

The first work on the canal channel involved excavation downstream of the buried lock 22E. The tail of lock 22E was exposed by the time this photo was taken. The dominant Globe Mill still produces top quality yarn for worsted cloth and has been externally cleaned in recent weeks as part of Kirklees Council's Heritage Economic Regeneration Scheme to improve the commercial centres of Slaithwaite and Marsden.

A new deeper channel is being constructed between the old lock 21 in the distance and Platt Lane bridge. The sheet piling is permanent and this view shows a reinforced concrete facing structure under construction. The Crimble Brook crosses under this section of channel in a syphon.

Work nearing completion on the channel between the abandoned lock 21 in the distance and Platt Lane bridge.

A new Lock 21E is being constructed within this sheet piled cofferdam just upstream of Platt Lane. This is enabling a new bridge to be constructed without introducing a hump in the road.

The completed lock 21E is in the foreground. The channel leading to lock 22 is behind. Stone copings and setts have been laid to complement nearby buildings.

Precast concrete units have been used to construct the winding hole washwalls.

This shows the new reinforced concrete channel being constructed downstream of Lock 22E. The rebate part way up the sides will allow for the application of a stone finish.

Lock 22E has been buried for 30 years within the Carr Lane car park. Here it is shown exposed and ready for renovation. The top gate recesses are in the foreground. Owing to the weight of traffic over the years the walls have bulged and a considerable amount of reconstruction has been necessary. A new piped bywash has also been laid on the right hand side since this picture was taken.

Immediately upstream of Lock 22E will be a short mooring area near the Carr Lane shops. Here the steel is being fixed in preparation for a large concrete pour.

By April 2000, the docking bay structure is complete with work on the new channel progressing towards Britannia Road.

Business as usual in Carr Lane with the 20 mph one way system keeping traffic moving. The hoardings had been erected to minimise dust and noise near the shops and as a safety measure with contractor's plant working close to the road.

View from Britannia Road Bridge in mid-August 2000 showing the last sections of concrete channel being formed and paving slabs already applied to Britannia Road Bridge.

Railings and stone facings provide an impressive quality finish to the new channel at Carr Lane. By the time this picture was taken in early February 2001 only the tow path surfacing remained to be laid.

Precast concrete units in place for Britannia Road bridge phase 1. The hoarding split the road in half. The second phase involved switching Britannia Road to the foreground and excavating the second half of the bridge in the background. This changeover was made at the start of May 2000. Britannia Road Bridge was completed and opened to two way traffic at the end of August.

Here the approach to Britannia Road bridge is nearing completion. A landing stage just beyond the railing on the left provides a lay by for boaters waiting to proceed along the narrow channel towards lock 22E.

Immediately upstream of Britannia Road a second bridge has been constructed to take the unadopted road which leaves Old Bank near the funeral directors and serves the properties on the south bank of the canal near the Moonraker Floating Tearoom. Here structural work is complete with the new channel tied into the previously restored section below the packhorse bridge. The temporary fencing on the left is to be removed once normal water levels are achieved.

On February 1st 2001 water was let into the new channel and the press and regional TV cameras were there to witness the event. Sue Day dressed in traditional garb made for an interesting picture as she lifted the paddle on lock 22.

'Where are the mooring rings?' Society Treasurer, John Sully, with his hire boat Leicester arrive at The Basin, Slaithwaite.

Slaithwaite's oldest 'comer in', a rounded glacial rock from the Borrowdale Volcanic deposits in the Lake District now has pride of place in one of the new walls near Britannia Road bridge. Here it is being unveiled at a Slaithwaite Civic Society ceremony.

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