Black Bear Park
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In 1804, an eight-mile long canal was built between Latchford in Warrington and Runcorn. It was named the Old Quays Canal. Once the Manchester Ship Canal was dug, in the 1890's, it was shortened to one mile, from Stockton Heath to the River Mersey, at Manor Lock. It was renamed the Black Bear Canal.
The Black Bear Canal remained in use for the transport of South American hides to tanneries, until the 1960's, when it fell into disuse.
Warrington Borough Council bought the land and, after the death by drowning of a local boy in the late 1960's, it was agreed that it had become hazardous to the local community and was shortly thereafter filled and converted into a parkland forming a line from Victoria Park and the banks of the River Mersey, through to Stockton Heath. (The park also forms a part of the Trans Pennine Trail).
