page_title: Burnley Embankment
section_title: Operational history
hierarchical_section_title: Burnley Embankment / Operational history
caption_attribution_description: English: The straight Burnley Embankment with the brick chimney of Central Mill towering above
context_page_description: The Burnley Embankment is an embankment carrying the Leeds and Liverpool Canal across the Calder and Brun valleys in Burnley, Lancashire. Also known as the Straight Mile, the embankment is 1,256 yards long and the canal runs up to 60 feet above the valley floor. The structure was chosen as one of the original Seven Wonders of the Waterways, and has been awarded a Red Wheel by the Transport Trust.
context_section_description: The town lies at the centre of the Burnley Coalfield, and the canal was routed through the town to provide transportation for the coal industry. During the first half of the 19th century, Fulledge Colliery to the east side of the embankment was linked to the canal by a tramroad. On the other side, the Burnley Drift passed under the southern end. A mine owned by Rev. Hargreaves caused a major collapse of the embankment as it extracted coal from directly underneath. The Calder culvert had to be partly rebuilt. There was also a short dock branch for coal loading at the very end, next to Finsley Gate. 
  In the latter half of the century, the older coalmines closed and their sites were built over, but the embankment continued to be used by the colliers. The coal dock at the south end was filled in, superseded by a coal yard connected to Towneley Colliery, located next to Finsley Wharf. Although the tramroad from Fulledge was removed, another was added on the opposite bank to supply the town's gasworks on the south side of the Calder. Another coal yard was established on the east side of the embankment, next to Central Mill, connected by a more complex system of tramroads that allowed coal to be delivered from Rowley and Bee Hole pits—opened in 1862 and 1872 respectively—and raise it up to a wharf. A triangular stone structure that survives on the canal side here probably supported a return wheel for the system.
  Another change that may have influenced the altered route of the canal was the rapid growth in the cotton industry here after 1780. The area between the south end of Church Street and the embankment became dominated by factories during the early 19th century. The earliest factory development was Scar Top Mill, built as a woollen mill in 1787 and later used for cotton spinning. This was joined by Hill Top Mill in 1820 and Rishton Mill after 1830. Later they were extended, with Hill Top and Rishton mills expanding up the embankment to access to the towpath.
  By the turn of the 20th century, twelve mills were operating alongside the embankment—all but two of which supported the town's textiles industry. Their location was likely influenced by the decision the canal proprietors took in the 1840s to allow water to be taken from the canal to power the mill engines. The embankment, carrying the canal 60 feet (18 m) above the mills, provided a suitable head of water for the mill owners and sluices were built to control abstraction. Both Hill Top and Rishton mills, once among the town's largest cotton mills, were demolished to make way for an Odeon Cinema which was built in 1937.
  Other businesses which used the embankment included three corn mills that had been established on the western side by 1851. The oldest, built in 1809 a little way south of Yorkshire Street, had already been converted for other uses. Both Hill Top, built around 1838, and Pilling Field (1825) mills had been constructed up the embankment, with direct access to the towpath. Pilling Field—also known as Aqueduct Mill—was the last corn mill to close in Burnley; production ended in 1912 and it was demolished in 1939 after John Greenwood and Sons was taken over by Rank Hovis McDougall. Also at the north end, a 200-yard (180 m) rope walk was established on the embankment, parallel to the canal.
caption: The central part of the embankment, with the chimney of Central Mill visible
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