Editing Leeds and Liverpool Canal (section)

====Third phase====
In 1804 Samuel Fletcher also died and his brother Joseph and son James were jointly appointed to replace him and they were provided with Gannow House in Burnley.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num= 1244807|desc= Gannow House, Burnley|access-date= 13 January 2015}}</ref> In 1805 they estimated the cost of linking Enfield to Red Moss would be £245,275 and £101,725 for the shorter continuation to Wigan (totalling about £27.36 million in 2014).<ref name="Skempton 2002 230">{{harvnb |Skempton |2002 |p=230}}</ref> The planned link with the Manchester, Bolton and Bury did not materialize.

The latest plan for the route had it running parallel to, and then crossing the southern section of the [[Lancaster Canal]], but common sense prevailed and the Leeds and Liverpool connected with the Lancaster Canal between [[Aspull]] and Johnson's Hillock. The main line of the canal was thus completed in 1816.

{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Leeds and Liverpool Canal Branch and Railway Act 1819
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of the United Kingdom
| long_title            = An Act to enable the Company of Proprietors of the Canal Navigation from Leeds to Liverpool, to make a Navigable Cut, and also a Collateral Branch or Railway, from their said Canal at Hennis Bridge near Wigan, to join the Duke of Bridgewater's Canal at Leigh, all in the County Palatine of Lancaster; and to amend the several Acts relating to the said Leeds and Liverpool Canal, and an Act for making the Rochdale Canal, so far as relates to certain Powers therein given to the late Duke of Bridgewater.
| year                  = 1819
| citation              = [[59 Geo. 3]]. c. cv
| introduced_commons    = 
| introduced_lords      = 
| territorial_extent    = 
| royal_assent          = 21 June 1819
| commencement          = 
| expiry_date           = 
| repeal_date           = 
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = 
| repealing_legislation = 
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = 
| legislation_history   = 
| theyworkforyou        = 
| millbankhansard       = 
| original_text         = https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/Geo3/59/105/pdfs/ukla_18190105_en.pdf
| revised_text          = 
| use_new_UK-LEG        = 
| UK-LEG_title          = 
| collapsed             = yes
}}
There had been various unsuccessful negotiations to connect the canal to the [[Bridgewater Canal]] at [[Leigh, Greater Manchester|Leigh]] but agreement was finally reached in 1818, and embodied in the '''{{visible anchor|Leeds and Liverpool Canal Branch and Railway Act 1819}}''' ([[59 Geo. 3]]. c. cv) and the connection was opened in 1820, thus giving access to Manchester and the rest of the canal network. The Bridgewater Canal, like most of Brindley's designs was for boats of {{convert|72|ft|m}} length, whereas the Leeds and Liverpool had been designed for broad boats of {{convert|62|ft|m}} length. There was naturally a desire by the longer boats to reach Liverpool and the locks of the westerly end of the canal were extended to {{convert|72|ft|m}} in 1822.

James Fletcher continued as engineer until his death in 1844.<ref name="Skempton 2002 230"/>