Liskeard and Looe Union Canal

Liskeard and Looe Union Canal
The remains of a lock on the defunct canal
Specifications
Locks	24[1]
Status	defunct
History
Principal engineer	Robert Coad
Date of act	1825
Date completed	1828
Date closed	1910
Geography
Start point	Liskeard
End point	Looe
Connects to	River Looe

The Liskeard and Looe Union Canal was a broad canal between Liskeard and Looe in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It was almost 6 miles (9.7 km) long and had 24 locks, and it opened progressively from 1827. The engineer was Robert Coad.

Its primary purpose originally was the carriage of sea sand and lime to improve the acidic soil of agricultural lands, but when mineral deposits on Caradon Hill were exploited, it benefited considerably, carrying the mineral down to Looe Harbour. The trade increased so much that a railway—the Liskeard and Looe Railway—was built alongside its course by the Canal Company, and the canal itself gradually ceased to be navigable.