With a total length of 127 miles the Leeds & Liverpool is the longest canal in Britain built by one single company. It was also one of the most expensive, and took 46 years before it was completed as a through route. Work started at each end in 1770 but it was 1777 before the sections between Leeds and Gargrave in the east and Liverpool and Wigan on the western side were finished. Between them loomed the bulk of the Pennine hills, causing huge engineering problems. It was 1816 when the two parts were finally joined together, by which time two other trans-Pennine routes had been in business for some time. Ironically, it was the Leeds & Liverpool that eventually survived whilst its neighbours fell into decay.
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