Long after the Bradford canal was closed and emptied, evidence of it remained. In fact the last vestiges of it only vanished about a decade ago when the decaying Spinkwell Lock was removed to make way for the car showrooms on the northern side of Canal Road, near the bottom of King’s Road.

Simon Black well remembers another lock. He and his mother Mrs Isabella Babbs (he later changed his own name by deed poll) were the last tenants of Oliver Lock House, which was situated about 100 yards past the old railway houses, Midland Terrace, on Canal Road heading towards Bolton Woods.

“We moved into Oliver Lock House in September, 1945, from Woodview Terrace which is situated at the side of the railway track just past where Manningham Station used to be, “ he writes. “Fortunately I had just started work as an apprentice joiner for W G Bogg and Sons, joiners and undertakers, Mansfield Road, off Oak Lane. If I had still been at school, Drummond Road, my mother would not have been granted Oliver Lock House because of the danger of the locks.

“There were three lock gates to Oliver Lock. The bottom and top lock gates were closed, and the middle lock gate was in a collapsed state. When it rained heavily the locks used to fill up with water to the depth of the bottom lock gate, which was about 20 feet deep.

“Just beyond the bottom lock gate there was a humpbacked bridge over the canal, which was the entrance to Oliver Lock House. The canal continued on to Bolton Woods. Just over the humpbacked bridge there was a large red-brick building which at one time had a tall chimney. Do any readers know what it was used for originally?

“The canal basin I think was situated between Messers Heydeman at the Forster Square end of Canal Road and the old Tramway Department at the bottom of Bolton Road. I believe this to be so because Heydemans had swing-out cranes, like on hinges, so the jib was over the centre of the barge for offloading bales of wool etc.”